








(iPO 





















L 


ULL- 

aLblS 


THE 

THEORY AND PRACTICE 

OF 


CRICKET 






THE 


THEORY AND PRACTICE 

OF 


CRICKET, 

FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT TIME : 

WITH 

CRITICAL & EXPLANATORY NOTES UPON THE LAWS OF THE GAME. 


/ 

By CHxiRLES BOX, 

*» ' 

AUTHOE OF 

TEE CRICKETER’S MANUAL,” “ REMINISCENCES OP CELEBRATED PLATERS,” 
“ ESSAYS OX THE GAME,” “ CRICKET SONGS AND POEMS,” ETC. 



LONDON: 

FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 

BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 

1868. 


7&1 Z 


LONDON: 

SAVILL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, 

COVENT GARDEN. 


k 

l * 
c 


t • 
t; 



$P*bitaieb 


TO 

THE PATRONS, LOVERS, AND PLAYERS OF CRICKET 


THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD. 
















































































































PREFACE. 


"From chaos down to Caesar's time" is along, 
dull, and dusty road, no matter what may he the pur¬ 
suit of the traveller; but in the search of materials 
for constructing a readable book on cricket, few 
will deny that the man must possess extraordinary 
courage who buoys himself up with anything like 
hope or expectancy. Now, as a big book is ad¬ 
mitted to be a big bore, the object aimed at in 
these pages is to avoid the obloquy of boredom, 
and to keep as far as possible from tortuous and 
beaten tracks, so that a few hitherto unmentioned 
facts concerning the manly and noble game which 
now is gaining universal sway, may be deemed 
worthy of perusal. In these days there is no lack 
of delvers who are perpetually unearthing some 
ancient stone, or antique relic, serving to bolster up 



Preface . 


viii 

some fanciful theory or preposterous idea. Two 
propositions are herein submitted, viz., that Cricket 
is neither of remote origin nor foreign growth. If 
these be satisfactorily established, the sources for 
future cavil may be dried up, and henceforward a 
more open space left for profitable disputation. 

In the varied statements respecting the progress 
of the game during its boyhood stages, the reader 
may at times be puzzled with the seeming ana¬ 
chronisms which start up with perplexing frequency. 
There can, however, be but one truth concerning 
one and the same thing. Wherever an aspect of 
confusion prevails, it must be referred to the care¬ 
lessness of historians, who, having no interest in 
cricket, were not very particular at times with 
respect to names and dates ; and to attempt to cor¬ 
rect them would probably tend to make confusion 
worse confounded. 

A large proportion of this book is devoted to 
the examination of the Laws of Cricket, as every 
year fresh troops of players enter the contenders’ 
list, many of whom are but ill-informed with re- 


Preface. 


IX 


spect to the regulations under which their warfare 
ought fairly to be carried on. 

As Cricket is now regarded in the light of a 
British institution, no apology is deemed necessary 
for the publication of this tribute to its literature. 


Camberwell, May 1st, 1868. 





CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

First Period.1 

Second Period.24 

Third Period.52 

Fourth Period.85 

Laws of the Game,, with Notes . . .105 

Laws affecting Single Wicket . . . 1G3 























4 > 












































































• 

• 










’ :n 


■\ 2.1 ■ 









THE THEORY 

AND 

PRACTICE OF CRICKET. 


FIRST PERIOD. 


And oft, conducted by historic truth, 

We tread the long extent of backward time. 

Thomson. 


Antiquity of the' ball—Use of it among the Chinese, 
Greeks, Romans, &c.—Ball play among the Italians— 
Hand-ball in the 13th century—Bowling; its long 
existence—Bat; its early character pointed out—■ 
Cricket first mentioned in the records of the town of 
Guildford—Cricket-ball, first mention of—Cricket-bat, 
early mention of—The “Book of Sports”—First 
poem on cricket written and published at Eton 
—Pall-mall and its relation to cricket—Goff-playing 
in Scotland—French notion of cricket—Facetious defi¬ 
nition of the game, and the only people, physically 
considered, who are able to play it. 

Although abundant proofs are obtainable respect¬ 
ing the birth-place of cricket, many have been the 


B 





2 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

attempts to show that under other appellations it 
-existed ages ago, in far-off places. But the spirit 
of inquiry which characterizes the daylight of the 
nineteenth century has traced these fanciful 
theories up to their right source, and has found 
them little else than a net of inaccurate data or a 
maze of wild conjecture. 

True, the prototypes of cricket are abundant 
enough to furnish any vivid imagination with 
materials on which to rhapsodize, but in endea¬ 
vouring to maintain a proposition, or to work out 
a problem, something more than mere fancy 
is needed. That some of the machinery em¬ 
ployed in the present day for the development of 
ericket, was in a ruder form used by the ancients, 
there is no denying. It may, however, he worth 
while to examine them closely, in order to ascer¬ 
tain what relation cricket hears to any of them, 
•and whether, as some aver, it really owes its pater¬ 
nity thereto. Now the ball and the bat are the 
primary instruments used in the game; in truth, 
the indispensable. Doubtless these instruments, 
varying in kind and degree, date back to a very 
remote period. The ball, in fact, is coeval with. 


Ball Play among the Italians. 3 

creation; ancl the Chinese, who claim antiquity for 
themselves alone, made and still make the ball in 
a variety of ways serviceable for harmless pastime. 
So also the Japanese and other eastern nations. 

Strabo says that Antigonus, 300 years previous 
to the Christian era, spied upon a time certain 
common soldiers playing at the ball and bowling, 
having their corslets on their backs and their 
morions upon their heads, and he took great plea¬ 
sure therein. 

Ball play is a very ancient Italian game, and is 
at the present time extensively practised. The 
ball used is between five and six inches in diameter, 
made of strongly-sewn cowhide. It is partially 
filled with water, which is pumped in through a 
small orifice. The game consists in striking the 
ball backward and forward over a cord, about 
twenty feet from the ground. The players have 
their right arms encased in a wooden cylinder 
thickly covered with spikes of the same material ; 
the left hand is left to grasp a handle at the lower 
end, in order to strike the ball therewith as straight 
as possible. Straightness, in fact, is its cardinal 
requisite. Almost every town promotes the cul- 
b % 


4 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

ture of this game, and is provided with its “ Gioca 
de Pallone," or town hall-court. 

In colder climes the ball has been equally the 
“toy to sport with," although by a very dif¬ 
ferent mode of procedure. Both foot and hand¬ 
ball continue to be the stock accompaniments of 
keen weather, as equally adapted for the locked-up 
stream or the frost-bound shore. That in the 
mediaeval ages the Scotch exercised themselves 
with a ball and bat, is evident from a writer of 
Scottish history, who remarks : “ One of the 
peculiar diversions still practised by the gentlemen 
is the goff, which requires an equal degree of art 
and strength. It is played by a bat and a ball; the 
latter is of a taper construction till it terminates 
in the part that strikes the ball, which is loaded 
with lead and faced with iron." 

In the 13th century the practice of hand-ball 
amongthe English is frequently brought into notice,, 
chiefly in consequence of its being played in churches 
during the Easter festival. Soon as the ceremony 
began, the dean, or his representative, chanted an 
antiphone suited to the occasion; then, taking 
the ball in his left hand, he danced to the tune, and 



Hand-ball in the Thirteenth Century. 5 

others of the clergy danced round hand in hand. 
Hence its name. The organist selected such music 
as in his judgment would prove most in unison 
with the sport. The ball was made of leather, 
filled with air by means of a ventil. Here it will 
be at once seen that a very close resemblance 
exists between the ball play of the Italians and 
that of the third Edward’s subjects; and the only 
reason hitherto assigned is the probability of its 
being brought to England between the lltli and 
12th centuries, when the crusading spirit drew 
such a mingled army of soldiers and fanatics to 
and from the Holy Land. 

Fitzstephen, a writer of the 13th century, says, 
in his time the youth of the city (London) were 
accustomed to go out into the fields with their 
teachers to play at ball, the scholars of every school 
having their particular ball, while the ancient and 
wealthy citizens came on horseback to see these 
youngsters contending at their sport. 

“In 1365 Edward commanded the Sheriff of 
London to make proclamation that every one of 
the city, strong in body, should use in their recrea¬ 
tions bows and arrows, pellets or bolts, and learn 


6 Theory and Practice of Cricket* 

and exercise the art of shooting, forbidding all 
and singular in our behalf that they do not after 
any manner apply themselves to the throwing of 
stones, hand-ball, foot-ball, handy-hall, lambuck,. 
or cock fighting, nor such like plays which have 
no profit in them/' No mention of cricket. 

A game existed, known hy the name of creag, 
which bore a strong likeness to club-ball, but its 
origin is based in too much obscurity to determine 
with correctness its native home and true pa¬ 
ternity. 

Frequent reference has been made to a MS. 
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, respecting 
which a wit remarks, “A woman is represented 
giving a ball to a man, while in the background 
are several tall and little women trying, as so 
many long stops and short stops, to catch the- 
ball. But they are all ugly, and there does not 
seem to be any great catch among them \” 

The Douce MSS., deposited in the same grand 
and venerable institution, abound with rude 
sketches of the sports in use among the rustic 
population of England during the mediaeval ages, 
but they merely reflect or rather confirm the 


Definition of the Bat. 7 

statements of historians from which extracts are 
here given. 

In the (lays of Sydney, the ball was described 
as “a round thing to play with, either with the 
hand, foot, or racket.” The accomplished author 
of “ Arcadia ” remarks: “ Those I have seen meet 
and play at ball, grow extremely earnest who 
should have the ball.” 

“ The Dauphin of France, thinking Henry the 
Fifth to be given to such plays and light follies 
as he exercised and used before he was called to 
the crown of England, sent to him a ton of tennis 
balls to play with, as who, he said, had better 
skill of tennis than of war, and was more expert 
in light games than martial policy.” 

The world’s a tennis-court, the rackets fates, 

Great kings are balls, when God will toss their states. 

Thus far it will be seen that balls of various 
kinds and for various sporting purposes were in 
great use up to the close of the 16th century. 
Much more mystery hovers about the bat. No 
mental effort is needed for the proper conception 
of a ball as respects its figure, differ as it may in 


8 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

size and adaptation to circumstance. The bat has 
now to be shaped : 

-a handsome bat he held, 

On which he leaned as one of eld. 

Spenser. 

This quotation harmonizes with the usage of the 
word in some rural districts of Sussex, and others 
in the home counties, where a strong thick 
walking-stick is called a bat. In Spenser's time 
it probably signified a weapon that did execution 
by its weight. Nor is it unlikely that clubbed 
sticks were originally designated bats, in part 
proof whereof the term is of Saxon descent. There 
is no continental language or dialect in which the 
word is to be found indicative of an exercise or 
pastime. Sambuca, baculus incurvatus is often spoken 
of to signify a crooked club or staff; and in a 
dictionary of obsolete provincial English, bat is 
the synonym for a stave, a club, a cudgel: thus. 

He nemeth his bat, and forth a goth 
Swithe sore and well wroth. 

Beves of Hampton, p. 17. 

Again: “ But what needes many words?—and whilst 
I am faithful to them, I have lost the use of my 



Shakspeare’s knowledge of the Game. 9 

arms with bats.”—(Wright’s “ Provence Dictio¬ 
nary.” 1641.) 

And such of you, a good bat on his neck, 

Able to lay a good man on the ground. 

George a-Greene. 

In Thompson's “ Etymons of English Words” 
bat is called a mallet, a club, a stick. 

Other writers and poets are to be found who 
content themselves with a similar definition. As 
far as the bat and ball are considered in their indi¬ 
vidual capacity, the above examples may at pre¬ 
sent suffice. 

Notwithstanding the persistence of some theo¬ 
rists respecting the development of cricket in the 
time of Shakspeare, no one has yet been able to 
produce any evidence of his knowledge thereof, 
although some passages in his plays have been 
cruelly twisted about in order to illustrate false 
ideas. < Two specimens will serve to estimate their 
value. 

Where go you with bats and clubs ? 

Coriolanus, Act i. sc. 1. 

Here the friend of Caius Marcius is addressing a 
mob of Roman citizens, who declare themselves 


10 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


“ suitors, with strong breaths, and strong arms 
tooand moreover mutinous from dire calamity; 
a position of affairs not exactly suited for a noble 
sport. 

Another favourite quotation is from Love's 
Labour Lost. (Act v. sc. 2)—“He is a marvel¬ 
lous good neighbour in sooth, and a very good 
bowler.” Persons acquainted with the play in 
question are aware that the scene is laid in Na¬ 
varre, a country stretching from the Pyrenees to 
the river Ebro, and has Pampeluna for its capital; 
a country never having the slightest pretensions to 
the ennobling sport of which Englishmen are 
proud. 

That cricket generated in the lifetime of the 
immortal bard of Avon there can be no doubt; 
but that it came under his cognizance is a matter 
much to be questioned, as it is scarcely probable 
that a mind of Shakspeare’s calibre (which conjured 
up such glowing imagery from trifling subjects), 
would have allowed even a novel embryo game,— 
rude though it undoubtedly would have been,—to 
pass altogether unnoticed. True, it might, and 
unquestionably did, originate among the humbler 


First recorded mention of It. II 

classes of society, and most probably in the rural 
districts. The physical education of youth, such 
as it was, was narrowed to very small proportions,, 
and this, no doubt, brought the inventive faculty 
forth. The earliest mention of cricket is made in 
the reign of Elizabeth. A document now in ex¬ 
istence refers to a disputed piece of land—about an 
acre and a quarter—in the town of Guildford, 
Surrey, and is entitled u A Garden withheld from 
the Town.” This garden, according to the testi¬ 
mony of an important witness, was situate in the 
parish of Holy Trinity, and had, “ time out of 
mind,” belonged to the town, but was appropriated 
by one John Parrishe to the purposes of a timber- 
yard and builder’s framing ground. This appro¬ 
priation gave rise to much dispute; and in the 
reign of Elizabeth (anno 40) an investigation of 
the rights of the aforesaid John Parrishe, innholder, 
now deceased, took place. John Derrick, a gentle¬ 
man, aged 59, and one of her Majesty's coroners 
for the county of Surrey, said he knew the land in 
question for 50 years or more. It lay waste, and 
was occupied by the inhabitants of Guildford to 
saw timber on, and for saw-pits, and for making of 


12 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

frames of timber for the said inhabitants. When he 
was a scholar of the Free School at Guildford, he and 
several of his fellows did run and play there at 
cricket and other plays; and also, that the same 
was used for the baiting of bears in the said town, 
until the said John Parrishe did enclose the said 
parcell of land.— (Russell’s “History of Guildford/'’) 

Here, then, the first glimpse of the game is 
caught; dim and shadowy, it is true, but a glimpse 
notwithstanding. 

Upon the accession of James the First to the 
English throne, a great stir was made respecting 
the observance of the Sabbath by the humbler 
classes; and in 1617 divers bishops applied to the 
king that liberty might be granted to the people 
to divert themselves on the Sabbath-day. The 
king, willing to indulge the prelates in their re¬ 
quest, as well as the people in their pastimes, 
caused certain rules to be drawn up and published 
under the royal sanction, entitled “The Book of 
Sports/’ with a positive injunction to the several 
parochial incumbents to read the same in their re¬ 
spective churches, upon pain of the king’s displea¬ 
sure ; but many of them proving refractory, were 


The Book of Sports. 


13 * 


suspended and imprisoned by order of the High 
Commission Court. 

Among the recusants was one Thomas Wilson,, a 
celebrated Puritan divine, rector of Otham, in 
Kent. He set at nought the king's command¬ 
ment, whereupon Archbishop Laud suspended him. 
Mr. Wilson had, however, grown so popular among 
the inhabitants of the county town, that his preach¬ 
ing invariably attracted large numbers to hear him. 
His biographer states that “ Maidstone was for¬ 
merly a very prophane town ; insomuch that I have 
seen morrice dancing, cudgel playing*, stool ball, 
cricJcetts } and many other sports openly and pub- 
lickly on the Lord's-day."—(See “ Life and Death of 
Thomas Wilson." Published 1672.) 

The book, about which the religious feeling of 
the kingdom had been much shocked, received 
severe judgment at the hands of the Lords and 
Commons in the Parliament of 1643. By them it 
was decreed that “ the book concerning and enjoyn- 
ing and tolerating of sports on the Lord's-day 
should be forthwith burned by the hands of the 
common hangman in Cheapside and other usual 
places; and to this purpose the sheriffs of London 


14 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

and Middlesex respectively are hereby required to 
be assistant to the effectual execution of this order, 
and see the said books burnt accordingly; and 
all persons who have any of the said books are 
hereby required forthwith to deliver them to one of 
the sheriffs of London, to be burnt according to this 
order.”—(Maitland's “ History of London.”) 

In 1650, Thomas Ken, afterwards the well- 
known Bishop of Bath and Wells, when at Win¬ 
chester School, “ used to wield a cricket hat; 33 at 
least, so says John Timbs, in his “ School-days of 
Eminent Men.” In Thompson's “ Etymons of 
English Words,” cricket is described as a game 
played with a club-stick or bat. About the year 
1662, a dictionary was published by Edward Phil¬ 
lips, entitled “ The New World of English Words, 
or a General Dictionary.” That the author had no 
mean opinion of his book may be inferred from the 
language of the title-page, which concludes with, 
Courteous reader, this volume, which the so 
many years industry of myself and others has 
brought to such perfection, is for thine and the 
general good now at last made publick, and I wish 
thee all happiness in thy necessary search and use 


Cricket -bally first mention of. 15 

of it. Farewell.” In the book, however, no men¬ 
tion is made of cricket; hut a very few years later 
(1685), the same writer, who was a nephew of the 
celebrated “ blind man eloquent,” published a 
second edition of his “ Mysteries of Love and 
Eloquence.” In this the aforesaid Edward Phil¬ 
lips puts the following remarkable language into 
the mouth of a bumpkin, in an address to his 
betrothed : “ Will j^ou not, when you have me, 
throw stools at my head, and cry, ‘ Would my eyes 
had been beat out by a cricket-ball the day before I 
saw thee ?’ ” 

Mention is made about this period of one Henry 
Tonge, Chaplain on board his Majesty’s ships 
Assistance , Bristol, and Royal Oak, at Antioch, who 
with the consul and about forty Englishmen rode 
out of the city on a fine May morning to recreate 
themselves in a valley about four miles from the 
city. The reverend historian says : “ There a 
princely tent was pitched, and we had several pas¬ 
times and sports, such as duck-hunting, fishing, 
shooting, hand-ball and krickett, and then a noble 
dinner brought thither, with great plenty of all 
sorts of wines, punch, and lemonade; at six o’clock 


16 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

we returned all home in good order, but soundly 
tired and weary.” 

Among other items in an Eton school bill, in 
the year 1688, is a charge of ninepence for a ram 
and a hat. Two years later, the words bat, ball, 
and wicket are identified with the sporting lan¬ 
guage of these collegians. In fact, cricket found 
many energetic supporters in its early stages at 
Eton, to which history abundantly testifies, as 
would also the “ bowling-green, ” had it the power 
of speech. 

The first known poem on cricket emanated from 
Eton towards the close of the seventeenth century, 
and was entitled “ Certamen Pilse.” Thus it is 
clear that the game had taken sufficient root in the 
juvenile mind to excite the fancy of the poet, and 
the notice of a publisher, one William Golding, of 
King’s College, who deemed the effusion worthy a 
place in “ Mu see Juveniles/’ 

Hence it appears that nearly two centuries ago 
it was deemed a matter of some importance to 
furnish the English youth with instruments of 
relief from the studies of the desk. Nor were 
examples of the benefit to be derived thereby 


The Eton Collegians. 


17 


wanting. The gymnasium was quite as essential 
a portion of Greek education as the school-room, 
*and the limbs of youths, and even of grown men, 
were as vigorously trained in athletics as their 
brains in arithmetic, rhetoric, and philosophy. It 
was a wise and sound policy which led the ancients 
thus to value the bodily health and vigour that are 
to be gained by a good physical training. Doubt¬ 
lessly, the minds both of boys and men would be 
far healthier, and their lives far happier, if the 
same honour were now paid to skill and strength 
in physical exercises, and if the whole population 
were carefully aided and encouraged in the pursuit 
of active and commendable sports, as were the 
citizens of the Greek republics. True is it, that 
nearly all the public schools of England have 
attached to them ample playing-ground for cricket. 
But how limited is the privilege, when the 
bulk of the rising race is considered ? Schools 
are built for the young, and it is questionable 
whether he who opens a gymnasium is not as use¬ 
ful a man as he who endows a college, and as 
valuable when he promotes a play-ground, as when 
he establishes a school. 


c 


18 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

“ The game of pall-mall in all probability wa& 
the offspring of the Stuart dynasty, and was most 
in fashion during the reigns of Charles I. and II. 
The gossiping Pepys remarks, the first time he 
ever saw the game of pall-mall was when the 
Duke of York, brother of Charles II., was playing 
in the park. The new game speedily became fashion¬ 
able. The Mall had to be carefully made and 
kept, to fit it for the sport; the earth was mixed 
and covered all over with powdered cockle-shells, 
that made it bind like gravel. In dry weather the 
surface would turn to dust, and thus deaden the 
spring of the ball. A long pole was erected, from 
which protruded an arm at a short distance from 
the top; at the extremity of the arm was attached 
a ring; the players were furnished with a club of 
the ordinary length of a walking bat or stick, and 
the object aimed at was to drive the ball from the 
ground through the ring. A picture of this may 
be seen in Carter’s “ Westminster.” The present 
Pall Mall not only derives its name from the sport,, 
but points out the locality where Pepys watched 
the play. 

In a book entitled " The Complete Gamester,”' 


Gaming at Mary bone. 1& 

published in 1674, there is given a summary of the 
games then in vogue, but cricket is not included 
therein. 

Nat Thompson, in the “ Loyal Protestant,” 
published in 1682, and the “ London Gazette,” a 
few years subsequent, also refer to the table of 
sports then recognised; both, however, are silent 
with respect to cricket. 

Pennant, in his “ History of London,” speaks of 
Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, one of the famous 
Cabal, who had a house near the site of the present 
Buckingham House, which went by his name. 
This was sold to John Sheffield, Duke of Bucking¬ 
ham, who rebuilt it. There was a noted gaming¬ 
house at Marybone which the duke constantly 
visited. This place was the assemblage of all the 
infamous sharpers of the time. His Grace always 
gave a dinner at the conclusion of the season; and 
his parting toast was, “ May as many of us who 
remain unhanged, next spring meet here again.” 
Lady Mary Wortley alludes to this in the follow¬ 
ing line :— 

Some dukes at Marybone bowl their time away. 
What the “ conclusion of the season” and the. 
c 2 


20 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

“ next spring meeting” really meant, are open 
questions. Many extracts might be made from 
correspondence recently come to light, strongly 
bearing upon the opinion that the gambling spirit 
was so largely infused into early cricket that the 
game was extremely unpopular. 

Loud menaces were heard and foul disgrace, 

Till sense was lost in sound, and silence fled the place. 

From the positive and negative evidence here 
adduced, it is quite rational to infer that cricket 
had made but a very slight advance from its infancy 
up to a hundred years of age; and although it had 
originated with the illiterate and obscure, there is 
proof of patronage among the better informed and 
higher standing in society. 

A commentator on Lovers poem, in 1746, ob¬ 
serves : “ I have taken a prodigious deal of pains to 
find out when cricket first appeared, and who was 
the author of it; but it is to be lamented that 
history is extremely deficient on this head. There 
is great reason, however, to think that it is an 
European invention, and perhaps ‘a sprout of 
Great Britain;’ for the Chinese, who lay claim to 


Golf and the Scotch. 


21 


printing 1 and gunpowder so long before we had any 
notion of them, to our great satisfaction lay not 
the least claim to it.” That “ history should be 
deficient” at the time to which the foregoing com¬ 
mentator alludes is no wonder, when the state of 
learning among the classes most concerned in 
cricket is taken into account; and as to the time 
of Edward III., at which some say it existed, 
the standard of literature was lamentably low. 
It was by no means uncommon for bishops, 
when testifying synodal acts, to do so by proxy in 
the following terms :—“ As I cannot read myself, 
N. N. hath subscribed for me ; ” or, “ As my lord 
bishop cannot write himself, at his request I have 
subscribed.”—(Turner’s “ History of the Middle 
Ages.”) 

Golf continues to be the standing amusement for 
summer in Scotland. “ The natives,” says an his¬ 
torian of the last century, “ are expert at all the di¬ 
versions common in England—the cricket excepted 
—of which they have no notion: the gentlemen look 
upon it as too athletic and mechanical.” 

The Scotch are, however, beginning to turn 
their attention to it, and clubs are formed for the 


22 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


furtherance of the game. Not so the French, for 
though a popular writer once made a desperate 
effort to produce evidence of cricket-playing in 
Fance 300 years back, he failed most signally. A 
critic in the Army and Navy Gazette says the 
Gallic mind is most obtuse regarding our national 
sport; they can see no delight in being bowled 
over at 22 yards, or of getting in the way of 
“ leather” at a much longer range. The report of 
a Greenwich match was read with astonishment 
•at Paris, not unmingled with compassion for the 
maimed veterans who took the field. Surprise 
reached its climax when it was seen that on the 
“ One-arm ” having terminated their innings the 
stumps (moignons) were drawn. The error on the 
part of the translator led to the belief that the 
drawing of the stumps was a punishment inflicted 
on the “ One-arm” for having lost the match. 

Here it may be well to stop, lest the reader 
have cause to exclaim, “ He draweth out the 
thread of his verbosity finer than the staple 
of his argument.” Nevertheless a facetious critic 
presses his claim to be heard while presenting 
-cricket under a novel aspect. 


Facet ice. 


23 


“ A good cricketer,” he maintains, “ should have 
an eye as sharp as a needle, a hand as tough as a 
thimble, and a leg as light as a bodkin. Russia 
should be able to produce no leather equal to his 
lungs, and India should have no rubber half as 
elastic as his muscles. He should have an eye as 
steady as a glass, with a frame of iron; and his 
limbs should be a study to the limner. Cricket can 
only be played by men of excellent temper, willing, 
like Hampden, to fall on the field, and who can 
submit cheerfully to the battery of the bat, and of 
assault from the ball. The game is essentially 
English, and though our countrymen carry it 
abroad wherever they go, it is difficult to inoculate 
or knock it into the foreigner. The Italians 
are too fat for cricket; the French too thin; the 
Dutch too dumpy; the Belgians too bilious; the 
Flemish too flatulent; the East Indians too pep¬ 
pery ; the Laplanders too bow-legged; the Swiss 
too sentimental; the Greeks too lazy; the Egyp¬ 
tians too long in the neck; and the Germans too 
short in the wind.” 


24 


SECOND PERIOD. 


0 parent Britain, minion of renown, 

Whose far-extended fame all nations own, 

Of sloth-promoting sports, forewarned, beware, 

Nor think thy pleasures are thy meanest care ; 

Feed on the joys that health and vigour give, 

Where freedom reigns, ’tis worth the while to live. 
Nursed on thy plains first Cricket learnt to please. 
And taught thy sons to slight inglorious ease. 

And see where busy counties strive for fame, 

Each greatly potent at this mighty game ; 

Fierce Kent, ambitious of the first applause, 

Against the world combined asserts her cause. 

Gay Surrey sometimes triumphs o’er the field. 

And fruitful Sussex cannot brook to yield ; 

While London, queen of cities, proudly vies, 

And often grasps the well-disputed prize. 

Thus while Greece triumph’d o’er the barbarous earth. 
Seven cities struggled, which gave Homer birth. 

James Love (1746). 


Proem. Early glimpses—Dean Swift’s satire—The game 
censured—No remedy at law in the matter of bets— 
Origin of laws—Size and shape of the bat—Early 




Development of the Game. 25 

practice in a match—Lord John Sackville’s challenge 
to All England—Score of the same, and a Poem by 
James Love descriptive of the play and players—For¬ 
mation of Hambledon and Sevenoaks Vine Club— 
Hampshire and Sussex v. Surrey and Kent—Hamp¬ 
shire and England—Dr. Perfect’s Poem on Cricket— 
First published set of laws—A match between twelve 
ladies at Moulsey Hurst—Great match at Bourne 
Park between Surrey and Kent for 2000L 

Having now got clear of the “ mists of fabling 
time/"’ the reader may peradventure find himself 
on a more agreeable road, that is to say, there may 
be occasionally a stirring incident to arrest atten¬ 
tion and provoke inquiry. Seeing, however, that he 
has just passed the threshold of the eighteenth cen¬ 
tury, little has to be recorded; for though the 
game of cricket had attracted the attention of 
many a writer of the period, their pens were so 
shallowly dipt into historic ink that their stories 
have no life in them. The mere mention of the 
name seems to have sufficed. Nor does this bare 
notice appear in a very attractive form. The few 
glimpses afforded of cricketing* progress reveal 
the ugly fact of a spirit of gambling as an asso¬ 
ciate. The genius of the game became endangered 


26 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

by the wild extremes into which it rushed, from the 
ardour of some of its newly-acquired patrons. In 
fact, an heterogeneous element was infused, and 
much mischief was the consequence. 

Dean Swift, in satirizing John Bull (1712) says 
he could not help discovering some remains of his 
nature when he happened to meet with a football 
or a cricket match. Whatever may have been the 
public estimate of the game, it is quite clear that 
its progress was watched with a jealous eye by 
the censors of the time. Nor can this be much 
wondered at. The spirit for gambling which 
actuated the idle classes, found its way into every 
kind of sport affording the least chance of action, 
and if great occasions presented themselves, they 
were not permitted to pass over unheeded. “ The di¬ 
version of cricket,” says a writer in the Gentleman’s 
Magazine of 1743, “ may be proper at holiday time 
and in the country, but upon days when men ought 
to be busy in the neighbourhood of a great city, it 
is improper to a high degree; it draws numbers 
of people from their employments, to the ruin of 
their families ; it brings together crowds of appren¬ 
tices and servants, whose time is not their own; 


Betting—Character of the Bat. 


27 


it propagates a spirit of idleness at a j uncture when 
with the utmost industry, our debts, taxes, and 
decay of trade will scarce allow us to get bread; 
it is a most notorious breach of the laws, as it gives 
the most open encouragement to gaming—the 
advertisements most impudently reciting that great 
sums are laid, that some people are so little 
ashamed of breaking the laws they had a hand in 
making, that they give public notice of it.” 

From the whole tone of this article, it is clear 
the writer’s pen was dipt in gall as well as ink. 
There can, however, be no question of the evil ten¬ 
dencies from the propagation of cricket under 
existing circumstances. In the 9th of Anne it 
had been found necessary to frame a law against 
gaming; and in two actions brought to recover 
the sum of twenty-five pounds, in each the plain¬ 
tiffs were defeated : the judges held, however good 
the game of cricket might be, the bets were bad, 
and the law forbad it. (Waller’s Law Reports). 

As yet the general dimensions of the bat, as 
well as the material and capacity of the ball, are 
unrecorded, nor is posterity enlightened as to the 
precise form the game had at this time assumed. 



28 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

or wliat were the laws for its government; for it is 
obvious that oral if not written ones must have 
existed, or the bets about which the judges and 
censors had so much to say could not have been 
the subject of their respective strictures. What¬ 
ever the laws were, it is evident that they must 
have been suggested by “ England's well-bred 
heirs,” who had turned their attention to cricket 
both as a source of amusement and profit. Nor is 
it likely that the codification was the result of one 
general meeting, or of one season, but undoubtedly 
of many. Nyren, in quoting a MS. furnished 
him by Mr. Ward, says “ the bat was similar to an 
old-fashioned dinner knife, curved at the back, and 
sweeping in the form of a volute at the front and 
end, that the stumps were one foot high and two 
feet wide, surmounted by a bail. Between the 
stumps a hole was cut in the ground, large enough 
to contain the ball and butt end of the bat. In 
running a notch, the striker was required to put 
his bat into this hole, instead of the modern 
practice of touching over the popping crease. The 
wicket-keeper, in putting out the striker, was- 
obliged, when the ball was thrown in, to place it. 


First recorded Match. 


29 


in the hole before the adversary could reach it 
with his bat. An engraving of cricket in this 
primitive stage is preserved in the Pavilion at 
Lord's. As before observed, the writers who con¬ 
descended to notice the existence of cricket, went 
scarcely beyond this meagre tribute, and not before 
the year 1746 can there be traced any record cal¬ 
culated to show the precise way in which a match 
was played. In that year, Lord John Sackville, 
on the part of the County of Kent, challenged All 
England, and so great was the interest taken in it 
that James Love, a comedian, of Richmond, and 
member of the cricket club at that place, wrote 
a lengthy poem descriptive of the match, which is 
given entire. The author, in a dedicatory page to 
a second edition, says the poem was the effusion of 
a youthful mind. The greatest circumstance in its 
favour is that it is founded upon fact, and may serve 
to entertain the true lovers of cricket by a recollec¬ 
tion of many particulars at a time when the game 
was cultivated with the utmost assiduity, and 
patronized by the personal appearance and manage¬ 
ment of some of the most capital people in the 
kingdom." 




30 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


Argument. The game—Five on the Kent side ont for 
three rnns—The odds ran high on the side of Kent 
—Bryan and Kewland go in—They help the game 
greatly—Bryan is unfortunately put out by Kips— 
Kent, in the first innings, 93 a-head—Kent, in the 
second innings, very near losing, the two last men 
being in—Way mark unhappily misses a catch, and 
by that means Kent is victorious. 

And now the sons of Kent, immortal grown 
By a long series of acquired renown, 

Smile at each weak attempt to shake their fame, 

And thus with vaunting pride their might proclaim i 
Long have we borne the palm, triumphant still, 

Ko county fit to match our wondrous skill; 

But that all tamely may confess our sway, 

And own us masters of the glorious day, 

Pick the best sportsmen from each several shire. 

And let them, if they dare, ’gainst us appear; 

Soon will we prove the mightiness we boast, 

And make them feel their error to their cost. 

Fame quickly gave the bold defiance vent, 

And magnified the undaunted sons of Kent; 

The boastful challenge sounded far and near, 

And spreading, reached at length great Kewland’s ear 
Where, with his friend, all negligent, he laughed, 

And threatened future glories as they quaffed. 

Struck with the daring phrase, a piercing look 
On Bryan first he cast, and thus he spoke : 

And dare the slaves this paltry message own ? 

What, then, is Kewland’s arm no better known ? 


Love’s Poem. 


31 


Have I, for this, the ring’s wide ramparts broke, 
While Rumney shuddered at the mighty stroke ? 
Now, by Alcmena’s sinewed son I swear, 

Whose dreadful blows no mortal strength can bear;. 
By Hermes, offspring too of thundering Jove, 
Whose winged feet like nimble lightning move ; 

By every patron of the pleasing war, 

My chief delight, my glory, and my care, 

This arm shall cease the far-driven ball to throw, 
Shrink from the bat, and feebly shun the blow, 

The trophies from this conquering forehead torn 
By boys and women shall in scorn be worn, 

Ere I neglect to let these blusterers know 
There live who dare oppose, and beat them too 1 
Illustrious Bryan, now’s the time to prove 
To Cricket charms thy much experienced love; 

Let us with care each hardy friend inspire, 

And fill their souls with emulating fire! 

Come on; true courage never is dismayed. 

He spoke: the heroes listened and obeyed; 

Urged by their chiefs, the friends of Cricket hear. 
And joyous in the fated lists appear. 

The day approached. To view the charming scene 
Exulting thousands crowd the level green. 

A place there is where city warriors meet, 

Wisely determined not to fight, but eat; 

Where harmless thunder rattles through the skies 
While the plump buffcoat fires, and shuts his eyes 
To the pleased mob the bursting cannons tell 
At every circling glass how much they swell. 

Here, in the intervals of bloodless war, 

The swains with milder pomp their arms prepare. 


32 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


Wide o’er the extended plain, the circling string 
Restrains the impatient throng, and marks a ring; 

But if encroaching on forbidden ground 
The heedless crowd o’erleap the proper bound, 

Smith plies with strenuous arm the smacking whip, 
Back to the line the affrighted rebels skip. 

The stumps are pitched. Each hero now is seen, 
Springs o’er the fence, and bounds along the green, 

In decent white most gracefully arrayed, 

Each strong built limb in all its pride displayed. 

Now, Muse, exert thy vigour, and describe 
The mighty chieftains of each glorious tribe! 

Bold Rumsey first, before the Kentish band, 

God-like, appeared, and seized the chief command. 
Judicious swain ! whose quick discerning soul 
Observes the various seasons as they roll; 

Well skilled to spread the thriving plant around, 

And paint with fragrant flowers the enamelled ground; 
Conscious of worth, with front erect, he moves, 

And poises in his hand the bat he loves. 

Him Dorset’s prince protects, whose youthful heir 
Attends with ardent glee the mighty player ; 

He, at mid wicket, disappoints the foe, 

Springs at the coming ball, and mocks the blow. 

E’en thus the rattlesnake, as travellers say, 

With steadfast eye observes its destined prey, 

Till fondly gazing on the glittering balls, 

Into her mouth the unhappy victim falls. 

The baffled hero quits his bat with pain, 

And, muttering, lags across the shouting plain. 


Love’s Poem. 


33 


Brisk Hodswell next strides on with comely pride, 
Tough as the subject of his trade, the hide; 

In his firm palm the hard-bound ball he bears. 

And mixes joyous with his pleased compeers. 
Bromleyan Mills attends the Kentish throng, 

And Robin, from his size, surnamed the Long. 

Six more, as ancient custom has thought meet, 

With willing steps the intrepid band complete. 

On the adverse party, towering o’er the rest, 
Left-handed Neivland fires each arduous breast; 

From many a bounteous crop the foodful grain, 

With swelling stores, rewards his useful pain, 

While the glad farmer with delighted eyes 
Smiles to behold his close-crammed granaries rise. 
Next Bryan came, whose cautious hand could fix, 

In neat-disposed array the well-piled bricks; 

With him alone scarce any youth could dare 
At single ivicket try the doubtful war; 

For few save him the exalted honour claim 
To play with judgment all the various game. 

Next his accomplished vigour Cuddy tries, 

Whose sheltering hand the neat-formed garb supplies. 
To the dread plain her Dungate Surrey sends, 

And Way mark on the jovial train attends; 

Equal in numbers, bravely they begin 
The dire dispute. The foes of Kent go in. 

With wary judgment, scattered o’er the green, 

The ambitious chiefs of fruitful Kent are seen. 

Some at a distance for the long ball wait, 

Some nearer planted seize it with the bat. 

D 


34 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


Hodswell and Mills behind the wickets stand, 

And each by turns the flying ball command. 

Four times from Hodswefl’s arm it skims the grass. 
Then Mills succeeds. Then seekers-out change place. 
Observe, cries Hodswell to the wondering throng, 

Be judges now whose arms are better strung. 

He said, then poised, and rising as he threw, 

Swift from his hand the fatal missive flew; 

Hot with more force the death-conveying ball 
Springs from the cannon to the battered wall; 

Nor swifter yet the pointed arrows go 
Launched from the vigour of the Parthian bow. 

It whizz’d along with unimagined force, 

And bore down all, resistless in its course. 

To such impetuous might compelled to yield. 

The bail and mangled stumps bestrew the field. 

Now glows with ardent heat the unequal fray, 

While Kent usurps the honour of the day. 

Loud from the ring resounds the piercing shout— 

“ Three notches only gained, five leaders out! ” 

But, while the drooping player invokes the gods, 

The busy better calculates the odds; 

Swift round the plain in buzzing murmurs run, 

“ I’ll hold you ten to four, Kent.” “ Done, sir, done! ” 
What numbers can with equal force describe 
The increasing terrors of the losing tribe; 

When, vainly striving ’gainst the conquering ball, 
They see their boasted chiefs dejected fall? 

Now the two mightiest of the fainting host 
Pant to redeem the fame their fellows lost. 

Eager for glory—for the worst prepared, 


Love’s Poem. 


35 


With powerful skill their threatened wickets guard. 
Bryan, collected for the deadly stroke, 

First cast to Heaven a supplicating look, 

Then prayed—Propitious powers! assist my blow, 
And grant the flying orb may shock the foe! 

This said, he waved his bat with forceful swing, 

And drove the battered pellet o’er the ring; 

Then rapid five times crossed the shining plain 
Ere the departed ball returned again. 

Nor was thy prowess, valiant Newman, mean, 

Whose strenuous arm increased the game eighteen;' 
While from thy stroke the ball returning hies, 
Uninterrupted clamours rend the skies. 

But oh! what horrid changes oft are seen, 

When faithless fortune seems the most serene ! 
Beware, unhappy Bryan! oh, beware ! 

Too heedless swain, when such a foe is near. 

Fired with success, elated with his luck, 

He glowed with rage, regardless how he struck; 

But forced the fatal negligence to mourn, 

Kips crushed his stumps before the youth could turn. 
The rest their unavailing vigour try, 

And by the power of Kent demolished die. 

Awakened echo speaks the innings o’er, 

And forty notches deep indent the score. 

Now Kent prepares her better skill to show, 

Loud rings the ground at each tremendous blow; 
With nervous arm performing godlike deeds, 

Another and another chief succeeds, 

Till tir’d with fame, the conquering hosts give way, 

D 2 


36 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


And head by thirteen strokes the toilsome fray. 
Fresh roused to arms, each labour-loving swain 
Swells with new strength, and dares the field again; 
Again to Heaven aspires the cheerful sound, 

The strokes re-echo o’er the spacious ground. 

The Champion strikes. When scarce arriving fair. 
The glancing ball mounts upward in the air. 

The batsman sees it, and with mournful eyes 
Fixed on the ascending pellet as it flies, 

Thus suppliant claims the favour of the skies: 

0 ! mighty Jove, and all ye powers above, 

Let my regarded prayer your pity move; 

Grant me but.this—Whatever youth shall dare 
Snatch at the prize descending through the air, 

Lay him extended on the grassy plain, 

And make his bold adventurous effort vain ! 

He said: the powers attending his request, 

Granted one part, to winds consigned the rest. 

And now illustrious Sackville where he stood, 

The approaching ball with cautious pleasure viewed. 
.At once he sees the chief’s impending doom, 

And pants for mighty honours yet to come. 

Swift as the falcon darting on its prey, 

He springs elastic on the verdant way; 

Sure of success, flies upward with a bound, 

Derides the slow approach, and spurns the ground. 
Prone slips the youth, yet glorious in his fall, 

With arm extended shows the captive ball. 

Loud acclamations every mouth employ, 

And echo rings the undulating joy. 

The Counties now the game triumphant lead, 


Love's Poem . 


37 


And vaunt their numbers fifty-seven a-head. 

To end the immortal honours of the day, . 

The chiefs of Kent once more their might essay. 

No trifling toil e’en yet remains untried, 

Nor mean the numbers of the adverse side : • 

With double skill each dangerous ball they shun, 

Strike with observing eye, with caution run. 

At length they know the wished-for number near, 

Yet wildly pant, and almost own their fear : 

The two last champions even now are in, 

And but three notches yet remain to win ; 

When almost ready to recant its boast, 

Ambitious Kent within an ace had lost, 

The mounting ball, again obliquely driven, , 

Cuts the pure ether, soaring up to heaven; 

Waymark was ready! Waymark, all must own, 

As sure a swain to catch as e’er was known:. 

Yet, whether Jove and all-compelling Fate 
In their high will determined Kent should beat, 

Or the lamenting youth too much relied 
On sure success, and fortune often tried— : 

The erring ball, amazing to be told, 

Slipt through his outstretched hand, and mock’d his 
hold; 

And now the Sons of Kent complete the game, 

And firmly fix their everlasting fame. 

Previous to this match the score was kept 
by notches on a short lath; hence the term 
<c notches” for runs. On the occasion in question 


38 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


the feats of the various players were committed 
to paper, for which posterity ought to be thankful, 
as it settles many points otherwise pregnant with 
conjecture. The full score of the match is copied 
from a manuscript once in the possession of the 
late Mr. Ward. 

Kent against All England. 

PLAYED ON THE ARTILLERY GROUND, LONDON. 


England. 


1st Innings. 

Runs. 


Harris . 

... 0 b by Hadswell 

Dingate ... 

... 3 b 

Ditto 

Hewland ... 

... 0 b 

Mills 

Cuddy . 

... 0 b 

Hadswell 

Green . 

... 0 b 

Mills 

Waymark... 

... 7 b 

Ditto 

Bryan .. 

... 12 b 

Kips 

Newland .... 

... 13 not out 

Harris . 

,.. 0 b 

Hadswell 

Smith . 


Bartrum 

Kewland .... 

..Ob 

Mills 

Byes. 

.. 0 



40 



2nd Innings. 

Runs. 

4 b Mills 

11 b Hadswell 
3 b Ditto 
2 c Harris 

5 b Mills 

9 b Hadswell 

7 c Kips 

15 c by Lord J. Sack- 
ville 

1 b Hadswell 

8 b Mills 
5 not out 

2 Byes 

70 
















Hambledon and Vine Clubs. 


39 


Kent. 


1st Innings. 

Buns. 

Lord J. Sack- 


2nd Innings. 

Buns. 

ville . 

5 cbyWaymark 

0 b Harris 

Long Robin... 

7 b 

Newland 

9 b Hewland 

Mills . 

0 b 

Harris 

6 c Ditto 

Hadswell . 

0 b 

Ditto 

5 not out 

Cntbnsh . 

3 b 

Green 

7 not out 

Bart rum . 

2 b 

Newland 

0 b Newland 

Danes . 

6 b 

Ditto 

0 c Smith 

Sawyer. 

0 c 

Waymark 

5 b Newland 

Kips . 

12 b 

Harris 

10 b Harris 

Mills. 

7 not out 

2 b Newland 

Romney . 

Byes . 

11 b 

0 

53 

Harris 

8 c Harris 

3 Byes 

58 


As the Hambledon Club was not in existence at 
the time this match was played, the oft-repeated 
story of Hampshire being the cradle of cricket, 
and the quarter whence all the players of note in 
the early part of the eighteenth century came, goes 
for nothing. Nor does it appear that England drew 
any of its forces on the occasion from Hants. It 
is true that the famous Vine Club was alike un¬ 
known at the same period, but then the county of 














40 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

Kent had several corners in it for the propagation 
of cricket, where it received the fostering care of 
men of wealth and spirit also, and who could sum¬ 
mon at a brief notice such a team as England itself 
found it very difficult to cope withal. Unfor¬ 
tunately the notching knife and stick were still 
more in favour than pen and paper; hence no reliable 
scores are known to exist. It is stated, about the 
year 1760, nine men of Dartford, aided by two of 
Middlesex, beat All England twice. Both Surrey 
and Sussex at this time put in strong claims to 
notice, and Hants had really obtained for cricket 
“ a local habitation and a name/'’ The well-known 
match at Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury, which 
gave rise to Duncombe’s parody on the “Chevy 
Chase/’ entitled “ Surrey Triumphant, or the 
Kentish Men's Defeat” (1773); as well as the 
poem “ Assist, all ye Muses,” written a year before, 
when Kent proved victorious over Hampshire, are 
sufficiently illustrative. 

The Universal Magazine of August, 1777, 
says; “On the 25th was determined (after three 
days* play), on Guildford Basin, the great cricket 
match, ‘The Counties of Hampshire and Sussex 


Hampshire v. All England. 41 

against Surrey and Kentwhich, after the greatest 
contest ever remembered, was won by the former 
with only one wicket to go down.” 

A still greater success for Hants is recorded in 
September of the same year, and is thus sum¬ 
marized : “ Yesterday evening (18th), exactly at 
six o'clock, the grand match between the county 
of Hampshire and All England was finished, in 
the Artillery Ground, and the numbers in the 
match were as follows: Monday, Hampshire got 
187 notches and England 32, with two wickets 
down. Tuesday, England, 119; total, 151. Hamp¬ 
shire, second innings, 85, with four men out. Wed¬ 
nesday, 96, making on the whole a majority of 247. 
England, second innings, 117 ; majority in the 
match for Hampshire, 130. Lord Tankerville and 
his man were the two first who went in yesterday, 
and got betwixt them 49 notches, and were both 
so unfortunate as to be caught out, his lordship by 
Small and his man by Aylward. Most of the 
others were caught out, which gave so quick a turn 
to the game.” 

Dr. William Perfect, an eminent physician, re¬ 
siding at Mailing, in Kent, published a large 


42 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


volume of poems in 1768, in which cricket is 
spoken of thus: 

Scarce potent Sol’s meridian lustre o’er, 

When from the village throngs promiscuous pour, 

In blended group around the level dale. 

While Cricket* does obstreperously prevail. 

Mindless of toil, and of the sultry ray, 

The eager youth the admiring crowds survey, 

Commence the game, when some their vigour lend. 

To bowl velocious, and the wicket rend; 

Some strike the ball, and all the gazers please. 

Those watch the wicket and the field keep these. 

Some catch the ball and gather instant fame, 

And all the dale resounds with loud acclaim. 

Some mark the strokes upon the shaven spray, 

And others umpires stand whom all obey. 

But now slow-setting sinks the western sun; 

The toil is ended, and the game is done. 

Then all return, and o’er the goblet tell 
How far one struck, another bowl’d how well— 

How all performed, till Morpheus seize the tale, 

And spread his pinions o’er the weary vale. 

Singularly enough, in tke same month of the 
same year, Mr. Town, “ critic and censor general/* 


* This is a game in great vogue in many parts of 
England, particularly in the counties of Kent, Surrey, 
Sussex, and Hampshire. 



First published Set of Laws. 


43 


speaking of Toby Bumper, a young fellow of 
family and fortune, and not without talents, says : 
"Nobody is better known among the hackney coach¬ 
men as a brother whip, and he is frequently engaged 
in the Artillery Ground with Faulkner and Dingate 
at cricket, and is himself esteemed as good a bat 
as either of the Bennets.” 

As the game advanced, the laws for its regulation 
were altered and enlarged. About twenty years 
ago the literary executor of a once celebrated 
cricketing family placed a manuscript in the hands 
of the writer hereof, in which were a few things 
“ hard to be understood but the laws of cricket 
in the middle of the eighteenth century could be 
easily made out, and in order to a right apprecia¬ 
tion of their validity they were published in the 
“ Cricketers’ Manual,” at that time the only book 
treating upon the history of cricket extant. As 
these laws are the best commentary upon the game 
at the period alluded to, it may not be out of place 
to reproduce them here. 

“ The pitching y e first Wicket is to be deter¬ 
mined by y e cast of a piece of money When y e 


44 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

first Wicket is pitched and y e popping Crease Cut 
which must be exactly 3 feet 10 inches from y e 
Wicket y e Other Wicket is to be pitched directly 
opposite at 22 yards distance and y e other popping 
crease cut 3 feet 10 inches before it. The Bowling 
Creases must be cut in a direct line from each 
stump The stumps must be 22 Inches long and 
y e Bail 6 Inches The Ball must weigh between 5 
and 6 Ounces. When y e Wickets are both pitched 
and all y e Creases Cut the party that wins the toss 
up may order which side may go in first at his 
Option 

"LAWS FOR V e BOWLERS 4 BALLS AND OVER 

“ The Bowler must deliver y e Ball with one foot 
behind y e Crease even with y e Wicket and when he 
has Bowled one Ball or more shall Bowl to y e num¬ 
ber 4 before he Changes Wickets and he Shall 
Change but once in y e Same Innings He may 
order y e player that is in at his wicket to Stand on 
which side of it he pleases at a reasonable dis¬ 
tance. If he delivers y e Ball with his hinder foot 
over ye Bowling Crease the Umpire Shall Call no 
Ball though she be Struck or y e Player is Bowled 


First published Set of Laws . 45 

out which he shall do without being asked and no 
Person shall have any right to ask him 

“ LAWS FOE 'X e STRIKERS, OR THOSE THAT ARE IN. 

“ If y e Wicket is Bowled down its out If he 
Strikes or treads down or falls himself upon y e 
wicket in striking [but not in over running] its 
out A Stroke or Nip over or under his Batt or 
upon his hands [but not arms] if y e Ball he held 
before She touchesy e Ground though She be hugged 
to the body its out If in Striking both his feet 
are over y e popping Crease and his Wicket put 
down except his Batt is down within its out If 
he runs out of his Ground to hinder a Catch its 
out. If a Ball is nipped up and he Strikes her 
again Wilfully before she comes to y e Wicket its 
out. If y e players have crossed each other he that 
runs for the Wicket that is put down is out. If 
they are not Crossed he that returns is out. If in 
running a Notch y e Wicket is struck down by a 
Throw before his Foot Hand or Batt is over y e 
Popping crease or a Stump hit by y e Ball though 
y e bail was down its out But if y e bail is down 
before he that catches y e Ball must strike a Stump 


46 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

out of y e Ground Ball in Hand then its out. If 
the Striker touches or takes up y e Ball before she 
is lain quite still unless asked by y e Bowler or 
Wicket-keeper its out. 

“ BATT BOOT OR HAND OYER Y e CREASE. 

“ When y e Ball has been in Hand by one of y e 
keepers or Stopers and y e Player has been at home 
He may go where he pleases until y e next Ball is 
howled. If either of y e Strikers is crossed in his 
running Ground designedly, which design must he 
determined by the Umpires NB The Umpires 
may order that notch to be scored When y e Ball 
is hit up either of the Strikers may hinder y e 
catch in his running Ground or if She is hit 
directly across y e Wickets y c Other Player may 
place his Body any where within y e swing of his 
Batt so as to hinder y e Bowler from catching her, 
but he must neither Strike at her nor touch her 
with his hands If a Striker nips a Ball up just 
before him he may fall before his Wicket, or pop 
down his Batt before Shee comes to it to Save it 
The Bail hanging on one Stump though y e Ball hit 
y e Wicket its not out. 


First published Set of Laws. 


47 


“laws for wicket keepers. 

“ The Wicket Keepers shall stand at a reasonable 
distance behind y e Wicket and shall not move till 
y e Ball is out of y e Bowler's Hands and shall not 
by any noise incommode y e Striker and if his 
hands knees foot or head be over or before his 
Wicket though the Ball hit it it shall not be out. 

“LAWS FOR Y 6 UMPIRES. 

“ To allow 2 Minutes for each man to come in 
when one is out, and 10 Minutes between Each 
Hand to mark y e Ball that it may not be changed 
They are sole judges of all outs and ins, of all fair 
and unfair Play of frivolous delays, of all hurts 
whether real or pretended and are discretionally to 
allow what time they think Proper before y e Game 
goes on again In case of a real hurt to a Striker 
they are to allow another to come in and the Person 
hurt to come in again But are not to allow a fresh 
Man to Play on either side on any Account They 
are sole judges of all hindrances, crossing y c Players 
in running and Standing unfair to Strike and in 
case of hindrance may order a notch to be scored 


48 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

They are not to order any man out unless appealed 
to by one of y e Players These laws are to y e 
Umpires Jointly Each Umpire is y e sole judge of 
all Nips and Catches Ins and outs good or bad runs 
at his own Wicket and his determination shall be 
absolute and he shall not be changed for another 
Umpire without y e Consent of both Sides When 
y e 4 Balls are Bowled he is to call over These laws 
are Separately When both Umpires shall call 
Play 3 Times Tis at y e peril of giving y e Game 
from them that refuse Play.” 

In 1775 was published, by Williams, of Fleet- 
street, “ The new Articles of the game of Cricket, 
as settled and revised at the Star and Garter, Pall- 
mall, February 25th, 1774, by a committee of 
noblemen and gentlemen of Kent, &c., to which is 
added the old laws as settled by the several Cricket 
Clubs; embellished with a neat copperplate of the 
representation of the game. Price 6d.” This ap¬ 
pears to be the first printed book of the kind. 

Nearly all the leading contests up to this period 
were carried on either in the White Conduit Fields 
or the Artillery Ground adjoining Finsbury-square. 


Surrey v. Kent. 


49 


The Hambledon and Sevenoaks Vine Clubs were 
formed about the middle of the century, but as few 
reliable records are known to exist respecting their 
matches, comparative silence on this score must be 
the result. 

The Annual Register of the history of Europe 
makes mention of a match played at Moulsey 
Hurst on the 3rd of August, 1775, between six 
unmarried and the same number of married women. 
It was won by the former, though one of the latter 
ran seventeen notches. There were great bets de¬ 
pending. 

The most interesting county meeting was that 
between Surrey and Kent, which gave rise to 
Buncombe's long parody on “ Chevy Chase." A 
manuscript of the score relating to the match is 
here faithfully transcribed :— 

“ The following is a list of the Noblemen and 
Gentlemen Cricketers who played on Monday, 
Tuesday, and Wednesday, July 19, 20tli, and 21st, 
1773, in Bourne Paddock, near Canterbury, the 
seat of Sir Horace Mann, Bart., for 2000^. :— 


E 



50 


Theory and Practice of Cricket , 


Surrey. 


Names. 

Out by whom. 

Out by whom. 


Lord Tankervhle, b by May. 

0 c by Mr. Davis... 

... 3 

Mr. Bartholomew, 

, c Simmons... 

3 b MiHer. 

...10 

Mr. Lewis, 

b the Duke ... 

0 last man in. 

...27 

Mr. Stone, 

b the Duke ... 

12 b MiHer . 

...24 

Stevens, alias 




Lnmpy 

b Miller . 

6 b Miller . 

... 8 

John Woods, 

c Sir H. Mann 

6 cR. May. 

... 6 

Palmer, 

c Davis . 

22 c the Duke . 

...38 

Thomas White, 

b the Duke... 

5 c Mr. Hussey ... 

...60 

Yalden, 

last man in ... 

17 b the Duke . 

... 1 

Childs, 

b May. 

0 b the Duke . 

... 3 

Frances, 

b the Duke... 

5 c Wood. 

...30 


Bye . 

1 Byes. 

... 7 



77 

217 


Kent. 



Names. 

Out by whom. 

Out by whom. 


Duke of Dorset,b by Woods... 

25 c by Woods. 

... 1 

Sir Horace Mann, b Woods. 

3 c Lord Tankerville 22 

Mr. Davis, 

b Woods. 

4 c Mr. Lewis. 

... 0 

Mr. Hussey, 

last man in... 

0 c Woods . 

... 0 

Miller, 

c Yalden. 

13 run out. 

....10 

Simmons, 

b Lumpy. 

5 c Yalden . 

.... 4 

B. May, 

b Woods. 

0 last man in. 


Thomas May, 

b Lumpy. 

4 c Childs . 

.... 5 

Louch, 

c Mr. Stone.. 

5 b Lumpy ... 

....26 

Pattenden, 

c Mr. Lewis... 

0 b Lumpy. 

.... 1 

Wood, of Seale, 

c Woods . 

1 c Mr. Bartholomew 9 


Byes . 

3 Byes. 

.... 0 



63 

78 


78 - 





































Surrey Triumphant. 


51 


Although Surrey effected a triumphant victory, 
a commentator of the time remarks: “In the 
county of Kent there still exists a passionate love 
of the game for its own sake—for the sake of 
health, the sunshine, the pure air, the green turf, 
freshness of heart, elasticity of frame, and quickness 
of mind ; all of which are combined in its practice. 
It strings the nerves and exercises the blood of all 
who play, and rubs the wrinkles out of the hearts 
of all who witness it.” 

Better to hunt in fields for health unbought 
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 

The wise for health on exercise depend; 

God never made his work for man to mend. 

And again : “No real philanthropist can gaze 
on the crowds of smiling faces without gratifica¬ 
tion, from the * well-to-do ? in life down to the 
laughing sunburnt sons of the soil and their bright¬ 
eyed and ruddy sweethearts; the hearty shouts 
when the ball flies with a noise like the crack of 
a rifle from the smooth bat, and joyous clapping of 
hands at a clean catch or clever throw. No one 
can contemplate scenes like these without increased 
love for his species, and a desire to promote their 
improvement,” 

e 2 



52 


THIRD PERIOD. 


Yicisti et victum tendere nummos Cantiaci videre. 

YlRG. iEN. 12, VARIAT. 

And swift flew the cricket "ball over the lawn. 

Anon. (1773). 

-a herd of boys with clamour bowled 

And stumpt the wicket. 

Tennyson. 


Formation of the Marylebone Club—Its constitution and 
laws—Early matches—First match between Green¬ 
wich pensioners: poem respecting it—Introduction of 
odd sides — Revision of laws — Smokers v. Non- 
Smokers—Eton v. Epsom: Poem thereon—Winches¬ 
ter and Harrow Schools—Spread of Cricket—Dress- 
Bat and ball making, an exclusive branch of manu¬ 
facture—First book on the elementary principles of 
Cricket — Public grounds for practice — Islington 
Albion Club — Introduction of round-arm bowling; 
its opposition and its progress — The catapulta and 
balista — Introduction of gauntlets, leg guards, &c. 
—Changes in law 10—Formation of Clubs—Quali¬ 
fications for hon. sec., captain, &c.—Cricket song. 




Formation of Marylebone Club. 53 

The gradual decadence of the aforenamed metro¬ 
politan clubs suggested the idea of forming a new 
one in the Marylebone district, and to accomplish 
this, Thomas Lord, who had been for years an 
attendant upon the members of the White Conduit, 
secured an area of ten acres, upon which Dorset 
Square is now situate; and in the month of June, 
1787, a match was played between All England 
and Five of the White Conduit Club, with six 
picked men. So freely was the bat exercised on 
this occasion, that 649 runs were scored. All 
England won by 239 runs. In about a year after 
the Marylebone Club was elected to the throne 
of cricket, and at once set about a revision of the 
laws. From that period to the present it has 
maintained its supremacy. Dorset Square was not, 
however, long destined to be the scene of cricketing 
exploits. Lord was compelled to seek fresh fields 
and pastures new, and for about three years he 
pitched his tent in a locality through which the 
Regent's Canal now passes. Eventually better 
fortune awaited him, and he settled down upon the 
spot in St. John's-wood-road known at this day 
to all the world as “ Lord's." 


54 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

The little knot of five from the White Conduit 
may be regarded as the founders of the Maryle- 
bone Club. They were not long in gathering a 
large and influential band of supporters, and the 
club flourished in a manner altogether unexpected. 
Every year cricket was gaining ground, until it 
shook off entirely the ill-repute heretofore attached, 
and instead of being regarded as the pastime for 
idlers, and even worse personages, it attained a 
character adapted to the manly and noble. 

It is not purposed here to go further into the 
history of the Marylebone Club. Everybody 
knows that it makes laws for the universe of 
cricket. Of its own constitution comparatively 
little is known, but the following digest may 
perhaps suffice for the general reader. 

The anniversary dinner takes place on the first 
Wednesday in May, when the season com¬ 
mences. 

The practice days begin on the following Friday, 
and continue every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 
and Saturday, until the end of July. 

Each member subscribes three pounds for the 


Marylebone Club Laws. 


55 


season, payable on the first of May. Ten shillings 
of this goes to the stock purse. 

Every new member has to pay one pound 
entrance to the stock purse in addition to his 
subscription. 

Ballots for new members are held on Monday 
and Thursday during the season, in the presence of 
one member of the committee. The drawing takes 
place immediately after dinner, in the Pavilion, 
and the drawer of the ballot-box is not opened for 
ten minutes. 

Meetings are held at other times in the Tennis 
Court, on any day and at any hour when nine 
members are assembled, at which place the ballot 
may proceed in the absence of a member of the 
committee, but the names must be entered by the 
appointed party in the minute book. 

Two black balls exclude, and not less than nine 
members constitute a ballot. 

The name and address of the candidate, with the 
names of proposer and seconder, must be put up 
and exposed, either in the Pavilion or Tennis Court, 
three days preceding any ballot. At the anniver- 


56 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

sary meeting, candidates maybe proposed, seconded, 
and balloted for without previous notice. 

Notice of resignation must be signified by letter 
to the secretary of the Club before the commence¬ 
ment of the season; otherwise that season sub¬ 
scription must be paid. 

The president of each year nominates his 
successor at the anniversary dinner. 

In the absence of the president, the chair is 
taken by the treasurer, in his absence by the 
secretary, and in the absence of the three, by the 
member present of the longest standing in the 
Club. 

The president, treasurer, secretary, together with 
thirteen gentlemen annually chosen by the mem¬ 
bers at the anniversary dinner, form a committee 
for the management of the Club, and for the 
decisions of all questions relating to rules. Three 
constitute a quorum. 

Two gentlemen, not of the committee, are 
appointed auditors at the same time and place by 
the members, to pass the stock purse and match 
fund accounts. 

No gentleman who is not a member of the Club 


Progress of County Clubs. 


57 


is admitted to the Pavilion, unless introduced by 
president or secretary, who are ex officio members of 
the committee, and then only for one day at a time. 

No smoking is allowed in the rooms of the 
Pavilion, or under the verandah. 

Notice of any proposed alterations in the laws of 
cricket must be given to the secretary, who com¬ 
municates the same to the committee, and, in the 
event of their considering it fit to he submitted to 
the Club, calls a general meeting at the Pavilion 
for such purpose, of which meeting not less than 
one month’s notice must he given by a placard in 
the Pavilion, and by advertisement in one or more 
newspapers. 

Alterations in the rules of the Club may he pro¬ 
posed at the anniversary dinner, or at a general 
meeting, on giving fourteen days’ notice to the 
secretary. 

Soon as cricket found permanent head-quarters, 
county clubs sprang rapidly into existence, and 
parish elevens spotted all the home districts. The 
notching knife gradually gave way to the pen, 
and the thin stick to a sheet of foolscap. What, 
however, went by the name of a score, was, gene- 


58 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

rally speaking, from its faultiness, altogether a 
misnomer. In fact, it took many years to bring 
the scoring faculty out. Sometimes the parish 
schoolmaster was chosen on account of his admitted 
readiness at figures, hut who unfortunately knew 
nothing whatever of the subject on which his 
talents were being expended, and consequently his 
arithmetic was often at fault. At other times, the 
man of little learning in the art of cricket was 
impressed into service; and he not unfrequently cut 
hut a sorry figure in his new undertaking. Hence, 
nearly all the early scores were more or less 
documents of a doubtful character. The Mary- 
lebone Club had a regular scribe, and to Britcher’s 
and Bentley’s books the present generation are 
indebted for the early doings at Lord’s. From 
these authorities it appears that the Marylebone 
matches were played by two elevens until the year 
1791, when eleven of the Hambledon Club, in 
their expiring days, were bold enough to confront 
twenty-two of Middlesex; and late in the same 
year eleven of Marylebone went down to Notting¬ 
ham to play twenty-two. The inventive faculty 
soon found room for exercise, and all kinds of 


One Arm v. One Leg. 


59 


matches were brought into notice. Nothing 
appeared too grotesque. Boys and men were not 
the only exponents, for the bat was grasped by 
redoubtables of the softer sex, as well as by 
veterans who in the service of their country had 
laid down their arms, from having lost a leg, or 
some other member of the body. In 1796, says 
the Annual Register , a cricket match was played 
by eleven Greenwich pensioners with one leg 
against eleven with one arm, for one thousand 
guineas, at the new cricket ground, Montpelier 
Gardens, Walworth. About nine o'clock the men 
arrived in three Greenwich stages. About twelve 
the wickets were pitched, and the match commenced. 
Those with but one leg had the first innings, and got 
93 runs; those with one arm got but 42. The 
one-legs commenced their second innings, and six 
were bowled out after they got 60 runs, so that 
they left off 111 more than those with one arm. 
Next morning the match was played out, and the 
men with one leg beat the one-arms by 103 runs. 
After the match was finished, the eleven with one 
leg ran a sweepstakes of 100 yards for twenty 
guineas, and the three best had prizes. This 


60 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


extraordinary circumstance called forth severe 
strictures in the journals of the time. Several 
songs were written, differing, of course, very mate¬ 
rially in style and sentiment. The following, from 
a reflecting mind, may perhaps be worth pre¬ 
serving :— 

One Arm v. One Leg. 

There is a pleasure in the thought 
That men who have our battles fought 
Can meet in friendly feud together, 

Though clash of sword and rifle aim 
May be reflected in a game 

Our children play upon the heather. 

Yea, though all strategies of arms 
Are bound in fair and false alarms, 

Defeat or victory at cricket : 

Though bloody deeds by fortress wall 
Are parodied when bat and ball 

Defend and storm the stubborn wicket. 

Thus thought I, when with vision dim, 

With feeble step and loss of limb, 

Old warriors in the strife contended, 

Strove as of yore a veteran band, 

That from the foe, by sea and land, 

Our king and country had defended. 

May be, shouts echoed round the spot 
That mingled with the musket shot, 


Matches with Odd Numbers. 


61 


On June the first, so great in story, 

Or mimick’d was the deadly stroke 
Of cutlass flashing in the smoke, 

When Villaret was shorn of glory. 

So grew I glad, and like a bard 
That yearns to men whose fate is hard, 

This simple song and toast repeated:— 

Old England’s heroes are our boast; 

Long may they guard our ancient coast, 

And never, never be defeated ! 

Long before the close of the eighteenth century 
the wholesome regulation of “ two elevens” for “ a 
match” was departed from, not only by country 
parties, but by the Marylebone Club itself. At 
times the numbers were oddly poised. Thus 
“Thirteen of England v. eleven of Hambledon 
Club;” “Twelve of the M.C.C. v. eleven of Lon¬ 
don;” “Twenty-two of Middlesex v, twelve of 
England;” “ Sixteen of Oxford Bullingdon Club 
v. twelve of Marylebone;” “Thirty-three of 
Norfolk v. Eleven of England;” “ Twelve of 
England v. Nineteen of Kent;” Eleven of Surrey 
v. Fourteen of England;” &c. &c. Whether this 
departure from what the chief of the Hambledon 
Club determined to be the proper number, had 


62 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

much effect upon the healthy progress of the game, 
it is not very easy at this distance of time to de¬ 
termine. One thing is certain, the laws were in a 
constant course of revision. Then as to variety, 
there was enough to suit the taste and convenience 
of the most fastidious. Among these was an 
annual match between Smokers and Non-Smokers. 
This usually came off in the merry month of May, 
on Parker’s Piece. The conditions were that the 
smoking business should go on without inter¬ 
mission, and according to a constant observer of 
the match, the parties “ provided themselves with a 
tolerable stock of the weed, which they blew into 
the air until oblivion was the result; the amuse¬ 
ment was intended to be felt, for it was entirely 
out of question to derive any of it through the 
medium of the sight.” What says the poet— 

Or go to Cambridge like another gentle, 

Whose folly’s well deserving of the rod, 

To see the boys that patronize cigars 
Cricketing those that don’t. 

If ye are green ye’ll go, of course, readers, 

If ye are grey ye won’t; 

Because I went myself, and do pronounce, 

A fact sufficiently surprising— 


Eton College v. Epsom Club. 


63 


That though the clouds were all day rising, 

I could not see a single player once. 

There is a pictorial representation of this match 
in the club-room of University Ground, at Cam¬ 
bridge, at the present time. 

While this stupid practice was upheld by the 
men of Cambridge, the youths of Eton could boast 
of a different course of action. Among the many 
matches which attracted public attention by boys 
beating men, was one which presented a theme for 
the subjoined fragment—copied verbatim :— 

* * * «= 

Bards long shall tell 
How hi3 wicket fell. 

When two young ladies left the field 
Lest they should see their champion yield; 

When the gallant lads of Eton 
Beared again they should be beaten; 

When breathless stood each college belle— 

’Twas then the R-dcl-ffe’s wicket fell. 

Where’s W-ld-r, W-lk-ns? where D-pu-s? 

Alas ! these mighty wickets three 
Are—as six Kingsmen ought to be ! 

But who is he whose maimed might 
Still for his country dares to fight ? 

By that eyebrow’s closing wound. 

Which the leech in black hath bound— 


64 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


By that keen, unerring eye, 

By that throat’s unceasing cry, 

By that straw-entwisted hat, 

By that last, that mighty hat,— 

If aright these signs I read 

’Tis H-rd-g of Warwick, good at need. 

“ Hold hard! hold hard!” the H-rd-ng cries. 

“ Hold hard! hold hard !” each voice replies, 

And L-sh-ngt-n holds hard, nor tries 
In vain to fetch a run.* 

Yon might have heard the strengthy bawl 
From Shooting Fields to College Hall, 

From Poets’ Walk’s inspiring shade, 

Where Thames soft murmurs through the glade. 
To where Long Chamber hears the raging 

Of- with his fags engaging. 

E’en to this day the tentsmen all 

Their man young H-rd-ng “ Hold-hard ” call, 

Look out—come L-sh-ngt-11! 

The doughty Hold-hard scours the plain, 

How blocks—now hits—now runs amain; 

Each limb’s at stretch, each nerve on strain, 

Till seven times ten good runs and four 
Stand marked to H-rd-ng’s brilliant score. 

’Twas then from his seat the young Lingers among 
A gown-yclad colleger hastily sprung. 

In story ’tis told that he even did dare 
To enter the black-mantled ranks of the fair, 

And to offer an unknown lady a chair! 


Technical; vide Glossar. Etonens. 




Eton College v. Epsom Club. 


G 5 


’Tis said that the chair he scarcely could held, 

For his limbs shook with dread, and his heart’s blood 
ran cold. 

’Tis said that he wistfully gazed around; 

He thought as she took it the fair one frown’d ! 

How this may be I cannot say, 

But the Gownsmen were in no spirits that day. 

Heard ye that buzz with wonder fraught? 

Stares each wild eye—nor stares at nought. 

The mighty H-rd-ng’s self is caught! 

Up flew the ball from foeman’s hand: 

In stark amaze the gownsmen stand, 

And stare like pig that yields its life 
Beneath the sticking butcher’s knife ! 

Nor would my muse refuse to tell 
Th’ unlucky doom of Fr-man*le— 

The Y-v-n, no ignoble field— 

The R-ch-d’s, who to none may yield— 

The T-mpl-t-n, whose hits could scare 
Each leaping lady from her chair. 

The G-rd-n who scarce let a bye, 

The fagging of the matchless Bl-gh ; 

Loud from the tent came H-rd-ng’s cry, 

And showed the path to victory. 

“ Well hit—now run—hold hard—hold hard !” 

He spoke, and Epsom’s schemes were marred. 

Some say, in his mind sweet pleasure arose 
When he thought how his country had worsted her 
foes; 


66 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


When he thought on the crape which that night 
should be torn 

From the bats, now no longer condemned to 
mourn. 

I cannot tell what his thoughts might be, 

I say the tale as ’twas said to me. 

First of the greatest the victor sat, 

While leant his chin on the mighty bat. 

No vulgar wood was the bat of might 
That swung in the grasp of H-rd-ng dight; 

No vulgar maker’s name it wore, 

Nor vulgar was the name it bore; 

It was a bat full fair to see, 

And it drove the balls right lustily: 

Without a flaw, without a speck, 

Smooth as fair Hebe’s ivory neck ; 

It was withal so light, so neat, 

The H-rd-ng called it—Mrs. * # 

Th’ admiring boys took up the name— 

Lo ! the vast power of heedless fame, 

That soon was earnest which at first was fun. 

And H-rd-ng’s bat and Mrs. * * were one. 

O mighty bat! we were not beat, 

And Epsom’s powers now dread to meet 
The thundering whirl of Mrs. * * 

O mighty bat! when Eton, reft 

Of her great strength, mourns H-rd-ng left. 

Thou still shalt conquer for us, given 
A wondrous heir-loom to th’ eleven. 

While Thames shall lave fair Eton’s feet. 

While mutton Collegers shall eat; 


Winchester and Harrow Schools. 


67 


Till Thames his secret stream reverses ; 

Till Westminster beat Eton verses ; 

Still at each match, each beauty bright, 

From sultry morn to chilly night— 

The peerless beauties of the day— 

E’en in the wet shall deign to stay, 

To see some future “Hold-hard” pat 
The flying balls with H-rd-ng’s bat! 

While Eton had been making itself famous, the 
rival foundation at Winchester was maintaining a 
well-deserved popularity, and Harrow School fre¬ 
quently produced an eleven against which neither 
could make a successful stand when Marylebone 
was the battle-ground. One of the earliest reliable 
records of a match between Eton and Harrow is 
dated August 2, 1805. In this match Lord Byron 
played for Harrow, but Eton won by an innings 
and two runs. These school matches commanded 
much attention, seeing that they had sent forth to 
the world many accomplished players. Horace 
Walpole, writing in 1749, says : “ I could tell you 
of Lord Montford’s making cricket matches and 
fetching up persons by express from different parts 
of England to play a match on Richmond-green.” 

Although it would appear from the foregoing 
F 2 



68 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

extracts and observations that cricket was confined 
to a small portion of England, the fact of its hav¬ 
ing taken deep root east, west, and north is well 
established. Nottingham and Sheffield had become 
great centres in the early part of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury. Norfolk too lifted up its voice in matters ap¬ 
pertaining to the game, and Essex likewise put in a 
claim to be heard; so also several of the most in¬ 
fluential counties contiguous to those freshened by 
the diurnal visits of the Atlantic wave. 

In proportion to this spread of the game and the 
growing favour with which it was attended, the 
demand for the materials necessary for its full de¬ 
velopment increased. Cricket-ball making became 
a separate vocation from that of the shoemaker, and 
large bat manufacturers soon deprived the hedge 
carpenter, the turner, and other hewers of wood, 
of a considerable share of profitable business done 
on a small scale. Men of the John Small genus 
turned their time to capital account; and if the 
name of a well-known cricketer was indented on 
any part of either bat or ball, so much the more was 
the price and supposed real value enhanced. Then,, 
to?, came the tailor, and exercised the mysteries of 


Dress. 


69 


his craft in the production of convenient and 
appropriate costumes; but these varied materially 
according to circumstances. Hence— 

But come, thou genial son of spring— 
AVhitsuntide ! and with thee bring 
Cricket, nimble boy and light, 

In slippers red and drawers white. 

Heddesford. 

Here it must be confessed there is nothing to offend 
the taste, more especially when put in contrast 
with the dresses of the early part of the eighteenth 
century or the latter part of the nineteenth, re¬ 
specting which many of the wearers appear to de¬ 
vote more study to their personal “ make-up " 
than to the game, and hence they often render 
themselves doubly ridiculous. 

It is somewhat remarkable, when considering the 
popularity of the game in the first quarter of the pre¬ 
sent century, that no writer of eminence should have 
deemed it a subjept worthy of his pen. Lambert, 
a celebrated player, expressed his surprise at this; 
and by the aid of a literary companion, published a 
u Cricketer's Guide." In an introductory chapter 
he pleads excuse for appearing before the world as 


70 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

an author. Thus : “ When we consider the high 
estimation in which cricket has been held by all 
ranks of society, it may he considered rather ex¬ 
traordinary that a manual of the description now 
offered to the public has not before been attempted, 
especially as other diversions of little importance in 
a salutary point of view, have not wanted this ad¬ 
vantage.” 

This elementary treatise on cricket was so far 
successful that it ran through fifteen editions, and 
before Lambert went the way of all flesh, John 
Nyren issued a “ Cricketer's Guide,” containing full 
directions for playing this elegant and manly game. 
Books of scores sprang up with almost every re¬ 
turning season, and occasionally a scientific treatise 
made its appearance, so that at the present day 
there is no lack of information respecting any de¬ 
partment of cricketing. 

The facilities afforded country people over those 
of the metropolis in the way of ground for practice 
were very considerable. Few towns or villages were 
without green spots on which to pitch a wicket. 
For a population like that of London the accommo¬ 
dation afforded was very limited. Kennington Com- 


Public Grounds for Practice . 71 

mon was largely patronized on account of the con-, 
venience of position. On this spot of twenty-three 
acres might frequently be seen double the number of 
wickets. Some of these, belonging to schools in the 
neighbourhood, were of the modern cut and finish * 
others assumed the ruder hedge-stake style of con¬ 
struction, and when wood was not available a pile 
of caps formed the object of the bowler’s attack; 
and occasionally might be seen the material of 
which Jacob made a pillow in the hazel bowers at 
Luz, and when in his deep sleep he saw the won¬ 
drous ladder forming a highway from earth to 
heaven thronged with angelic travellers. 

In aristocratic districts a “ bit of practice ’* 
might be obtained more conveniently. Although 
wickets were not permitted in the public parks, it 
was by no means uncommon to give law the go* 
by. Hence: 

Yet though ’tis too rural to come near the mark, 

We all herd in one walk, and that nearest the park : 

There with ease we may see as we pass by the wicket. 

The chimneys of Knightsbridge and footmen at cricket^ 

Sheridan. 

The White Conduit Fields were now all but de-. 



7.2 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

serted by cricketers of every grade. Nelson, in his 
u History of Islington/'’ says “ The gardens be¬ 
longing to White Conduit House are laid out in a 
neat manner, having in the middle a circular basin 
of water, with boxes around, and decorated with 
paintings, &c., in which the company sit and 
take refreshments. Here is also a bowling-green. 
A neighbouring field was about twenty years back 
used as a cricket ground by a party of noblemen 
and gentlemen who had formed a club here for the 
exercise of that game/’ In Carrington Bowles’ 
set of prints entitled “ Manly Recreations ” (pub¬ 
lished 1788), a view of the ground is given while a 
match is being played. Although Islington was 
for a time abandoned as the theatre for cricket, a 
club, entitled the Albion, reared its head in the 
early part of the present century; and notwith¬ 
standing the vicissitudes attendant upon deaths, 
removals, and other freaks of time and circum¬ 
stance, the Islington Albion still exists. 

The introduction of round-arm bowling about 
the year 1803 foreshadowed a new era in the 
world of cricket. The first recorded notice of it 
is to be found in the Sporting Magazine of July, 


Introduction of Round-arm, Bowling . 73 

1807. Here it is, ipsissima verba: “On Monday, 
the 20th instant, the return grand match between 
Thirteen of All England and Twenty-three of 
Kent for 1000 guineas began playing on Penenden 
Heath, and terminated on Thursday the 23rd in 
favour of Kent by 27 notches, Kent having got 
189 and England 162 runs. This was reckoned 
the greatest match that had been played in Kent 
for upwards of twenty years; bets to a very large 
amount were depending on both sides. The 
straight-arm bowling, introduced by John Willes, 
Esq., was generally practised in the game, and 
fully proved an obstacle against getting runs in 
comparison to what might have been got by the 
straight-forward bowling." 

Among the great bulk of cricketers the new 
comer met with a sorry reception. Both Mr. 
Willes and his offspring were frequently “ barred" 
in the arrangement of a match, and thus for a 
time they were kept in abeyance. There are per¬ 
sons yet living who remember Mr. Willes playing 
in a match on Penenden Heath amidst much 
uproar and confusion from players and spectators, 
John Crawte being especially noisy on the occa- 


74 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

sion. Mr. Willes was not the man to be daunted 
by what he considered silly ejaculations, clumsy 
cajoleries, or empty threats of personal violence, so¬ 
on he went until the ‘‘ring" was broken in, the 
stumps uprooted, and the game brought to a dead 
lock. It took some little time for Mr. Willes to 
obtain a fair chance for his system; but he lived 
to see it patronized to an extent fully commen¬ 
surate with his fondest expectations. Experi¬ 
mental matches on a large scale were had recourse 
to, chiefly at the suggestion of the Marylebone 
Club. As a matter of course there was no lack of 
objectors to the system, which was termed “throw¬ 
ing,” and therefore calculated to produce a large 
crop of broken fingers and straight joints, unless 
the batsman appeared at his wicket encased like 
the armadillo. Against such alarms it was argued, 
that if bowling really did occasionally break shins 
and knuckles, the first maxim of a cricketer is, 
“ never be afraid of the ball,” and that men ought 
not to permit childish fears to influence them. It 
took four or five years to supply a moderate 
amount of bowlers on the new principle, although, 
everybody having any pretence to bowling seemed 


Progress of Round-arm Bowling. 75- 

to be trying heart and soul to gain a position 
among the round-arm celebrities. In the year 
1830 the “ innovator” was generally recognised,, 
and the under-hand delivery tapered down in a. 
few seasons to such small dimensions as to become 
kinsman to a curiosity. In the present day Mr. 
Drake occasionally treats those opposed to him 
with a taste of the prevailing under-hand at the 
time of the revolution. 

The great change in the character of cricket 
thus brought about led to a very searching exa¬ 
mination of the real principles of round-arm bowl¬ 
ing, and probably no subject appertaining to the 
game underwent so much learned discussion. The 
romantic tales told about Miss Willes served as 
valuable ingredients for concocting other pretty 
tales connected with the “ round-arm ” discovery. 
Some persons averred that the Kentish yeoman 
merely resuscitated an exploded idea, while others 
insisted that, in Sussex, it was known and prac¬ 
tised long before John Willes was heard of; but 
the lamp of reason and the light of truth soon 
dispelled these prejudices and illusions. The 
elements of mathematical science which permeated 


76 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

the new system gave rise to the introduction of 
mechanical agencies for the purpose of practice- 
hitting, for it was obvious that the batting was 
now dragging a slow length along. Hence the 
catapult of the ancient Romans made its ap¬ 
pearance as a bowler. By a very simple pro¬ 
cess of machinery the ball was propelled with 
the greatest exactitude as respects both pitch and 
pace. A plate upon which the ball rested would, 
by a lateral movement upon a screw, enable the 
attendant to deliver it either on, or off, at pleasure. 
Under the plate was another screw to regulate the 
angle of projection. These improvements upon 
the old cumbrous machine were effected by Mr. 
Felix, after an expenditure of much time and 
reflection. Another instrument, called the balista, 
about six feet in height, and weighing three- 
quarters of a cwt., appeared a few years later. 
The principle of the new comer resembled very 
closely that of its prototype, and, notwithstanding 
its comparative lightness, answered all the pur¬ 
poses for which it was constructed. 

With the new system also came gauntlets, 
india-rubber paddings, and accoutrements of lea- 


Changes in Laiv 10 . 


ther, whalebone, cork, and other useful as well as 
fanciful materials. The famous Law 10 had to be 
revised, for it stood thus in the year 1828 :—“ The 
ball must be bowled (not thrown nor jerked) and 
delivered underhand with the hand below the 
elbow. But if the ball be jerked or the arm be 
extended from the body horizontally, and any part 
of the back of the hand be uppermost, or the hand 
extended horizontally when the ball shall be de¬ 
livered, the umpire shall call f no ball/ ” The 
new law said : “ The ball shall be bowled. If it 
be thrown or jerked, or if any part of the hand or 
arm be above the elbow at the time of delivery, 
the umpire shall call ‘ no ball/ ” For upwards of 
thirty years after, Law 10 was doomed to undergo 
the perpetual torture of incision and excision. 
Four years ago the Marylebone Club held another 
grave consultation on the eternally perplexing 
theme, and resolved to reduce the law to the two 
sentences of which it is at present composed. 
(See page 118). 

Respecting the formation of clubs, much must 
depend upon situation and other circumstances. 
The rules drawn up for the governance of Mary- 


78 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

lebone or the Civil Service would probably 
but ill adapt themselves for any other club in 
the whole realm of cricket. A president, trea¬ 
surer, committee, and secretary, are indispen- 
sables. Neither the first nor second of these 
functionaries need be a cricketer. As the com¬ 
mittee are generally selected from the subscription 
list, botli the elements of cricket and business come 
in contact. But the man of all others is the 
honorary secretary, on whose shoulders rests too 
frequently the great burden of management. A 
paid secretary is merely the agent of the committee, 
and if he does their bidding his business is at an 
end. But the honorary secretary is the imperso¬ 
nation of the club itself, and in nine cases out of 
ten the prosperity or decay of the club is referable 
to him. He should be well acquainted with cricket 
theoretically, if he shines not in the practice of the 
art. At times his temper is put to a severe test, 
seeing he has much impertinence to brook from 
puffy and self-important individuals, both in and 
out of what is called “ the profession.” He ought 
also to be a “ man of letters,” as from him, through 
the medium of the press, the public are made 


Qualification for Hon. Sec., Captain, fyc. 79 

■acquainted with reliable statements not easily 
obtained through any other source. In fine, the 
temporary absence of an efficient honorary secre¬ 
tary to a large club frequently throws everything 
into disorder, and resembles the epoch when 
“ there was no king in Israel, and every man 
did that which was right in his own eyes.” What 
the honorary secretary is in the cabinet, the cap¬ 
tain is in the field; and here again, “ the right 
man” is essentially needed. It is not necessary 
that he should be either the best bat or bowler, 
but he should possess the faculty of a sound dis¬ 
cretion. There is a class of men who endeavour 
to keep others in awe by a species of hectorism 
and bluster; to stamp and gesticulate with prepos¬ 
terous wildness if things are going wrong. No 
individual of this class is fit to act as captain; he 
should display an aptitude for turning the most 
unfavourable circumstance to the best account, and 
of “ doing all gently.” Formerly some gentlemen 
altogether unconnected with the match, would 
undertake to captain the respective sides, but this 
duty is now almost exclusively discharged by one of 
the team, and as the parties composing it know the 


80 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


temper and merits of their own men, the selection 
is generally made with care. Our friends at the 
antipodes once fell in with a curious customer 
occupying the captain’s post, and they handled him 
in the following fashion :— 

An Idyl, not exactly Ideal, of Our Captain. 

(To be thought out). 

Who likes before the match to dine, 

Who likes the juice of fruity wine, 

Forgetful where to draw the line P 

Our Captain. 

Who, never tired, will ever bowl,' 1 
Who o’er his men keeps no control 
(For aught but bowling lacketh soul) P 

Our Captain. 

Who starts the bowling with his slows, 

And for what reason goodness knows, 

Except to put out .... nose ? 

Our Captain. 

Who, pipe in mouth, begins to play, 

Regardless of example: nay, 

Unto the field will pass his clay ? 

Our Captain. 

Who ought to lead by act and mien ? 

Who ought extremes to go between ? 

Whose presence should be felt when seen P 

Our Captain. 


Cricket Song. 


81 


For he who fills the pride of place, 

Though lacking chiselled classic face, 

Should yet reflect a sober grace, 

As Captain. 

The gambling spirit which had so strongly 
characterized cricket in its early stages dwindled 
away in proportion to the advancement of the 
game itself. Country people, however, would 
occasionally ornament their placards with huge 
figures representing sums of money as the 
stake to be played for. Common sense eventually 
banished the foolish practice, and the trophy of 
victory generally limited itself to a first-class treble¬ 
seam ball. This was presented to the winners at 
the festive board, and a song, perhaps the follow¬ 
ing, wound up the day's affairs :— 

No sport or pastime can compare with that which I shall 
name: 

’Tis good for peasant and for peer, a fine old English game; 
It does no harm, it breeds no strife, it hurts no honest 
mind. 

It thrills with rapture every vein, and leaves no sting be¬ 
hind. 

Chorus. 

Then sing a song to cricket, that fine old English game. 
G 


82 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


It flushes with the glow of health each manly cheek and 
brow, 

It bids the slow and sluggish blood in kindlier currents 
flow; 

It knits the sinews into strength, and quickens every eye. 

It nerves the hand, renews the heart, and bids all sorrow 

Chorus. 

Oh ! what a glorious sight is that when in the fresh field 
air, 

Blue sky above, green earth beneath, all nature calm and 
fair, 

Its votaries like brothers meet, to test each other’s skill, 

And win or lose, conclude the game with kindness and 
goodwill. 

Chorus. 

Arrayed in seemly garb they stand upon the verdant 
sward, 

A sight which Mitford might portray, or Blackwood'$ 
brawny bard; 

While pleased spectators clustering round, look wondering 
on the while, 

And lovely eyes are beaming bright and lovelier faces smile. 

Chorus. 

Erect and graceful and serene, one at the wicket stands. 

Grasping the neat compliant bat with strong elastic hands; 

The bowler hails the flying ball, which seems to bound 
with life, 

And watchful fielders wait around to aid the noble strife. 

Chorus. 


Averages. 83 

The contest o’er, the conquerors, and conquered one and 
all, 

Partake the festive cup unmixed with elements of gall; 
With merry tale and jocund song they speed the hours 
away, 

Shake hands at parting, and appoint to try some other 
day. 

Chorus. 

When Death at last shall bowl us out, which surely must 
be so, 

And knock our guarded wickets down by his unfailing blow. 
May we give up the game like men prepared for such re¬ 
lease, 

Make our accounts all straight and clear, and quit the 
world in peace. 

Chorus. 

A scheme for producing yearly results of indi¬ 
viduals and clubs, was promoted about this period, 
under the designation of “averages,” which, 
occupied much attention. According to the mode 
of construction, some of these average tables were 
found to he very frequently false guides, and there¬ 
fore worse than useless. Every cricketer knows 
that the highest average is not a proper test of 
merit, unless the average so tabled is confined to 
one class of matches. No tables, even as at pre- 


G 


o 


84 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

sent constructed, elaborate as some of them are, 
give a correct idea either of a man’s howling or 
batting, relatively considered. Who, for instance, 
would think of placing the runs of some parish 
hero against those of first-class players, who rarely 
appear in matches, unless confronted by the pick 
of the cricketing community ? No one ! It is 
flattering to the vanity of some aspirants to fame 
to see their names enveloped with huge rows of 
figures; but, after all, it would be far more praise¬ 
worthy to be the possessor of a moderate average 
obtained from conflicts in which “ Greek meets 
Greek.” The whole system of averages ought 
to be constructed upon some revised plan before 
its fundamental principles can be satisfactorily 
worked out. 


85 


FOURTH PERIOD. 


They boated and they cricketed.— Tennyson. 


Cricket in the reigns of Elizabeth, Anne, and Victoria— 
List of Eton and Harrow annual matches at Lord’s 
from commencement—Gentlemen and Players’matches 
at Lord’s from 1830—University matches—Origin of 
I Zingari—All England Eleven—United All Eng¬ 
land—Re-establishment of Surrey County Club—The 
first trip to Australia (1861)—Second trip (1864)— 
Drawn matches—Large scores, cause of—Visit of 
Aborigines from Australia—Apostrophe to cricket. 

Chronologically considered, cricket claims for its 
three most remarkable eras the reigns of three Bri¬ 
tish queens. Little if any doubt now remains,— 
whatever may have been its descent,—that the 
infant Hercules was cradled and christened when 
Elizabeth swayed the sceptre. How it looked in 
swaddling bands neither poet nor painter has 
afforded the present generation an opportunity of 




86 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

judging. Hence imagination is compelled to fill 
up the void which even a faint outline would have 
supplied. With Anne of Denmark more daylight 
arrives,—a few glimpses of the growth of a cen¬ 
tury are afforded by scraps of written facts, and 
rude pictorial representations. These bear testi¬ 
mony to the birth of double wicket, although they 
leave the inquirer in as much doubt and perplexity 
as before respecting its organization and laws. On 
the advent of Victoria to the throne of a kingdom 
on which the sun never sets, cricket was shedding 
so strong a light that it was seen by the dwellers 
in the remotest corners of the British Isles, and 
was transmitted to other regions and countries by 
the English traveller. Probably the world never 
saw a finer band of cricketers on a small scale than 
when Victoria mounted the throne. Some persons 
of the present day maintain that we are losing the 
fibre of which the men of that time were composed ; 
but this is a fallacy. They say “ there were giants 
in those daysthe reason why they appeared so 
was, that those around them were comparative 
dwarfs. The man must be great indeed whose 
head could, in the present day, appear above the 


Public School Matches . 


87 


crowd of cultivated cricketers. Which way soever 
the eye turns in the months of spring and summer it 
falls upon “ the cricketers’ tent,” in districts favour¬ 
able to its being pitched. The great advantage 
which the play-ground affords has contributed in no 
small degree towards raising the game of cricket, not 
only to one of skill and science, but has conferred 
such general benefits on the whole community as 
justly to entitle it to the rank of "an institution.” 

Among the public schools which of late years 
have striven hard for the foremost position must be 
placed Eton and Harrow. There was a time when 
Winchester could beat both, but that appears now 
to have passed away altogether. The earliest re¬ 
corded match between Eton and Harrow was in 
1805. Then came a rest of thirteen years. The 
following table represents the forty-two matches 
played from the commencement up to last year, 
from which it will be seen that Harrow won 
twenty, Eton nineteen, and four were drawn:— 

1805. Eton won by 1 innings and 2 runs. 

1818. Harrow won by 13 runs. 

1822. Harrow won by 87 runs. 

1823. Eton won by one innings and 33 runs. 


88 


Theory and Practice of Cricket, 

1824. Eton won by nine wickets. 

1825. Eton won by seven wickets. 

1827. Eton won b}^ six wickets. 

1828. Eton won by six wickets. 

1832. Eton won by one innings and^l56 runs. 

1833. Harrow won by eight wickets. 

1834. Harrow won bv 13 runs. 

*/ 

1835. Eton won by 165 runs. 

1836. Harrow won by nine wickets. 

1837. Eton won by eight wickets. 

1838. Eton won by one innings and 30 runs. 

1839. Eton won by eight wickets. 

1840. Eton won by 31 runs. 

1841. Eton won by one innings and 175 runs. 

1842. Harrow won by 65 runs. 

1843. Harrow won by 20 runs. 

1844. Eton won by one innings and 69 runs. 

1845. Eton won by one innings and 174 runs. 

1846. Eton won by one innings and 135 runs. 

1847. Eton won by nine wickets. 

184S. Harrow won by 41 runs. 

1849. Harrow won by 77 runs. 

1850. Eton won by seven wickets. 

1851. Harrow won by eight wickets. 


Gentlemen and Players. 


89 


1852. Harrow won by 71 runs. 

1853. Harrow won by three wickets. 

1851*. Harrow won by 98 runs. 

1855. Harrow won by one innings and 66 runs. 

1857. Harrow won by ten wickets. 

1858. Harrow won by one innings and 7 runs. 

1859. Harrow won by one innings and 48 runs. 

1860. Drawn. 

1861. Drawn. 

1862. Eton won by 54 runs. 

1863. Drawn. 

1864. Harrow won by one innings and 67 runs. 

1865. Harrow won by one innings and 51 runs. 

1866. Harrow won by one innings and 136 runs.. 

1867. Drawn. 

In the year 1806, the Gentlemen first arrayed 
themselves against the Players at Lord's. On. 
that occasion the Gentlemen won their match by 
an innings and fourteen runs. From that period 
up to the present—making allowance for an inter¬ 
regnum of thirteen years between the first and 
second match—every endeavour has been made to 
keep the public alive to its interest, and at times 


so 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


some very carious experiments were resorted to 
for the purpose. It will be sufficient for the object 
aimed at in this work to give a summary of the 
matches played since 1830, with their respective 
dates:— 

1st 2nd rp 0 {. 

Date. Sides. inn. inn. 

1830, June 14 ... Players . 46-46 

10 Gentlemen... 17-17 

(with Lillywhite and Pilch) 

Match given up. 


1831, July 25 ... Gentlemen . 139 36 — 175 

Players . 120 56 — 176 

Players won by five wickets. 

1832, Aug. 27 ... Gentlemen. 57 60 — 117 

Players . 151-151 


Players won by one innings and 34 runs. Gentle¬ 
men defended wickets 22 in. by 6 in. Players 
27 in. by 8 in. 

1833, July 8 ... Gentlemen. 42 76 — 118 

Players . 106 13 — 119 

Players won by nine wickets. 

1834, Aug. 4 ... Gentlemen. 54 93 — 147 

Players . 168-168 

Players won by one innings and 29 runs. 











Gentlemen and Players. 


91 


Date. Sides. 1st 2nd T , 

inn. inn. 0 * 

1835, July 20 ... Gentlemen. 158 72 — 230 

(with Red gate and Cobbett) 

Players . 135 96 — 231 

Players won by six wickets. 

1836, July 25 ... 18 Gentlemen... 115 96 — 211 

11 Players. 77 99 — 176 

Gentlemen won by 55 runs. 

1837, July 3 ... Gentlemen. 54 35— 89 

Players . 99-— 

Players won by an innings and 10 runs. 

The Gentlemen's wickets were 27 in. by 8; the 
Players 36 in. by 12 in. This was called the 
Barn-Door Match, or “ Ward's Folly." 


1837, July 17 ... 16 Gentlemen... 74 42 — 116 

Players . 154-154 

(Second Match.) 

Players won by 38 runs. 

1838, July 3 ... Gentlemen. 86 109 — 195 

(with Pilch, Cobbett, and Wenman.) 

Players . 104 131 — 235 


Players won by 40 runs. 












92 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


Date. Sides. 1st 2nd r j ot 

inn. inn. 

1839, July 29 ... Gentlemen. 86 71 — 157 

Players . 235 235 

Drawn in favour of Players. The Gentlemen had 
six wickets to fall in their second innings. 

1840, July 29 ... Gentlemen. 39 120 — 159 

Players . 149 11 — 160 

Players won by nine wickets. 

1841, July 12 ... Gentlemen. 78 109 — 187 

Players . 64 124 — 188 

Players won by two wickets. 

1842, July 25 ... Gentlemen. 78 206 — 284 

Players . 122 67 — 189 

Gentlemen won by 95 runs. 

1843, July 17 ... Players . 137 99 — 236 

Gentlemen. 256 - 256 

Gentlemen won by one innings and 20 runs. 

1844, July 29 ... Players . 130 141 — 271 

Gentlemen. 128 105 — 233 

Players won by 38 runs. 

1845, July 21 ... Players . 127 149 — 276 

Gentlemen. 94 115 — 209 

Players won by 67 runs. 















Gentlemen and Players. 


93 


Date. Sides. 1st 2nd ,p 0 ^ 

inn. inn. 

1846, July 20 ... Players . 85 145 — 230 

Gentlemen. 105 126 — 231 

Gentlemen won by one wicket. 

1847, July 19 ... Players . 126 148 — 274 

Gentlemen. 79 48 — 127 

Players won by 147 runs. 

1848, Aug. 6 ... Gentlemen. 31 152— 183 

Players . 79 71 — 150 

Gentlemen won by 33 runs. 

1849, July 23 ... Gentlemen. 192-192 

Players . 65 87 — 152 

Gentlemen won by one innings and 40 runs. 

1850, July 22 ... Players . 148-148 

Gentlemen. 42 58 — 100 

Players won by one innings and 48 runs. 

1851, July 23 ... Gentlemen. 65 128 — 193 

Players . 207 207 

Players won by one innings and 14 runs. 

1851, July 21 ... Players . 229 229 

(Return) Gentlemen. 100 107 — 207 

Players won by one innings and 22 runs. 
















94 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


Date. Sides. 1st 2nd rjr, 0 ^ 

inn. inn, 

1852, July 19 ... Gentlemen. 122 187 — 309 

Players . 220 90 — 310 

Players won by live wickets. 

1853, July 18 ... Gentlemen. 134 37 — 171 

Players . 42 69 — 111 

Gentlemen won by 60 runs. 

1854, July 17 ... Gentlemen. 95 71 — 160 

Players . 148 20 — 163 


Players won by nine wickets. 


1855, July 23 ... Gentlemen. 226 43 — 269 

Players . 222 49 — 271 

Players won by seven wickets. 

1856, July 21 ... Gentlemen. 50 133 — 183- 

Players . 114 70 — 184- 

Players won by two wickets. 

1857, July 13 ... Players . 199 122 — 321 

Gentlemen. 194 114 — 303 

Players won by 13 runs. 

1858, July 19 ... Players . 115 229 — 343- 

Gentlemen . 52 77 — 129 


Players won by 285 runs. 


















Gentlemen and Players. 


95- 


Date. Sides. 1st 2nd T . 

inn. inn. 0 * 

1859, July 18 ... Players . 226 167 — 393- 

Gentlemen. 164 60 — 224 

Players won by 169 runs. 

1860, July 9 ... Players . 394 — — 394 

Gentlemen. 137 76 — 213- 

Players won by an innings and 181 runs. 

1861, July 1 ... Players . 246 - 246 

Gentlemen. 70 116 — 186 

Players won by an innings and 60 runs. 

1862, July 14 ... Players . 110 246 — 356 

(Under 30 years of age.) 
Gentlemen (do.) 130 69 — 199 
Players won by 157 runs. 


1863, July 10 ... Players . 231 9 — 240 

Gentlemen. 113 126 — 239 

Players won by eight wickets. 

1864, June 27 ... Players . 187-187 

Gentlemen. 60 59 — 119 

Players won by an innings and 68 runs. 

1865, July 10 ... Players . 132 140 — 272 

Gentlemen. 198 77 — 275 


Gentlemen won by eight wickets. 














96 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

Date. Sides. 1st 2nd 

inn. inn. 

1866, July ... Players . 116 253 

Gentlemen. 136 195 

Players won by 38 runs. 

1867, July S' ...Players . 79 61 

Gentlemen. 87 55 

Gentlemen won by eight wickets. 

Oxford and Cambridge University Matches. 

The first record of a match at Lord’s is in the 
year 1827, which was not played out, owing to the 
unpropitious state of the weather. In 1829, a 
meeting took place at Oxford, when the Oxonians 
won the match by 115 runs. Then followed an 
interregnum till 1836, when, at Lord’s, Oxford 
won by 121 runs. In 1838 Oxford won by 98 runs. 
Then came a change in favour of Cambridge, who 
won six matches in succession. In 1846 Oxford 
won by three wickets. The next year placed 
Cambridge on the winning list by 138 runs. In 
1848 Oxford won by 23 runs (match played at 
Oxford). In 1849 Cambridge won by three 
wickets, and in the succeeding year (at Oxford), 


Tot. 

— 369 

— 331 

— 140 

— 142 






University Matches. 


97 


the Oxford eleven won by 127 runs. From that 
time to the present, the famous University matches 
have been played at Lord J s :— 

1851. Cambridge won by an innings and 4 runs. 

1852. Oxford won by an innings and 77 runs. 

1853. Oxford won by an innings and 19 runs. 

1854. Oxford won by an innings and 8 runs. 

1855. Oxford won by three wickets. 

1856. Cambridge won by three wickets. 

1857. Oxford won by 81 runs. 

1858. Oxford won by an innings and 38 runs. 

1859. Cambridge won by 28 runs. 

1860. Cambridge won by three wickets. 

1861. Cambridge won by 133 runs. 

1862. Cambridge won by eight wickets. 

1863. Oxford won by eight wickets. 

1864. Oxford won by four wickets. 

1865. Oxford won by 114 runs. 

1866. Oxford won by 12 runs. 

1867. Cambridge won by five wickets. 

In July, 1845, it was resolved at a meeting 
where Nobody was Chairman, “ that a club bo 
founded for mutual cricket accommodation, which 


li 


98 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

shall have the name and style of I Zingari.” The 
four corner-stones were the Honourables Frederick 
-and Spencer Ponsonby, Mr. J. L. Baldwin, and 
Mr. It. P. Long. This club has not only extended 
itself beyond all expectation, but it embodies in 
its membership some of the finest amateur players 
in the world. 

About the same period the All England Eleven 
first went on their migratory tour. Whatever 
may be said against the system adopted by them 
of playing at great odds, and thereby depriving 
the game of all real interest, certain is it that the 
enterprise has been productive of much good. 
Thousands of persons owe their love to the game 
from the very circumstance of having it first 
brought to their doors by means of William Clarke, 
of Nottingham, and his party. This movement 
laid the foundation of the order called “profes¬ 
sionals.” Nearly six months of the year, viz., 
from April to October, are usually absorbed by the 
All England Eleven in their journeyings through 
the island and elsewhere. A second team of peri¬ 
patetics, entitled the “United All England” was 
formed a few years later, and in the year 1857 


Surrey County Clubs. 


99 


these two bands of champions met at Lord’s to 
play for the benefit of the “ Cricketers’ Fund.” 
This became an annual affair at Marylebone for 
nine years uninterruptedly. It was afterwards 
transferred to Manchester. The re-establishment 
of the Surrey County Club, at the Oval, in 1845, 
gave a great impetus to cricket. A few members 
of the Montpelier Club, driven from their Wal¬ 
worth quarters, soon gathered, from their old com¬ 
panions and others, a goodly array to start with. 
The Oval rapidly extended its fame, and became in 
a very few years the centre to which the rising 
talent of the county directed itself. From the 
almost unexampled patronage with which it was 
favoured during its foundation stage, and progres¬ 
sive enlargements, it asserted and has hitherto 
maintained its claim to a foremost position in the 
role of County Clubs. 

To pursue the rise and progress of clubs, great 
and small, from the period here arrived at, down 
to the present time, would defeat the purposes of 
this book and the intention of its author. It is 
not too much to say that any parish in England 
now without a cricket club would be considered as 
h 2 


100 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

great an anomaly as to be without a church ; and 
any school of repute without its cricket-ground, 
would he regarded as deficient of a great essential 
to a proper education. 

Not only is the game highly patronized in 
England, but also on the American continent; the 
chieftains of both countries have been engaged in 
the tug of war. So, too, in more distant regions 
of the world. On the 18th of October, 1861, 
twelve players of note set out for Australia, and 
there, under a temperature varying from 80° to 
120°, played thirteen matches, to the great delight 
and astonishment of the colonists. The promoter 
reaped a golden harvest from the speculation, and 
the players returned to England in May, 1862, 
safe and sound, and laden with spoil. Three years 
later, another eleven went out, and returned, like 
the first, with abundant proofs of the wealth of 
the country and the generosity of its inhabi¬ 
tants. 

The spread of the game everywhere brings with 
it a heavy demand upon the professional market, 
and in fact it often happens that men cannot be 
had either for u love or moneyThe undue pres- 


oS \ 


111 


Drawn Matches . 


101 


sure of business also frequently results in its being 
done badly. Matches are made without proper 
consideration, and hence they are left in a most 
unsatisfactory condition. Drawn matches, now 
recorded, are nearly in the same ratio with com¬ 
pleted ones. This is not cricket. Formerly, the 
parties to a match were on the ground in the 
morning of the appointed day, and to work they 
went, as if determined to ascertain “ who's who," 
whereas in these days it often happens that the 
summer sun is allowed to pass the meridian before 
any attempt at play is commenced. Moreover, 
the best hours of play are broken into for the sake 
of a regular sit-down dinner, which may, and does, 
serve the purpose of the licensed victualler, in order 
to get rid of stale beer and flavourless bakemeats. 
Now it is well known that no man, without the 
digestion of an ostrich, can see to play a good 
ball after a dinner of veal pie, currant tart, lobster 
salad, beer, and the old boot-top sherry. Cricketers 
who play to win hold aloof from such repasts, 
waiting till the fight is over, when they can fall to 
with a glorious appetite. 

On the subject of large scores much speculation 


102 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

is afloat Prom 150 to 200 runs for an individual 
excites no great surprise ; but the question asked is, 
how this comes to pass. It is not that the bowling 
is weaker now, or the batting more scientific, than 
in the days alluded to in the opening of this 
u Fourth Period,” but that the grounds, generally 
speaking, are in better order. What with levellers, 
mowing machines, and ten-ton rollers, every really 
good ground is as level as a billiard table. 
“ Shooters and twisters ” are rare, and the bowler 
seldom gets a fluke in his favour. All this is 
matter of congratulation. The fewer the chances 
of accident, the more skill and science will be im¬ 
ported into the game, and the more healthy will be 
the moral and physical results. It is vain to pre¬ 
tend to make a ground that is constitutionally un¬ 
suited for the wear and tear of cricket. Many 
attempts have been made,—only to fail. You may 
enclose rotten material in a very substantial-looking 
edifice ; you may envelop consumption with the 
surface of health, but as time wears on, and the 
stress is applied, the hidden ill will be sure to reveal 
itself. 

The turf at Lord's has been hard-worked ever 


Visit of Aboriginals. 


103 


since the year 1814; in fact it was used for cricketing 
purposes before its removal to Marylebone. This 
shows the amount of endurance the right stuff 
is capable of. The turf recently laid down for 
practice purposes is of a very different character. 

Among the most remarkable results attendant 
upon the cultivation and spread of cricket, is the 
visiVthis year of twelve aboriginals from the anti¬ 
podes, to play against English, Irish, and Scotch 
clubs. Heaven be praised that they will not bring 
with them Lord Macaulay's New Zealander who 
is to sketch the last arch of London Bridge 1 


Cricket, here’s to Tiiee. 

If noble sports deserve our songs, 

Then, Cricket, here’s to thee ! 

Whose birth to British land belongs, 

And breathes its liberty. 

Its name has reached the wide world round, 
Its players dauntless are; 

The bat and ball and stumps are found, 
’Neath every rising star. 

Then fill, and chorus clear and strong, 

For this the toast shall be : 

If noble sports deserve a song, 

Then, Cricket! here’s to thee ! 


104 


LAWS OF THE GAME, WITH NOTES. 

To the enlightened and practical cricketer these 
notes are not immediately directed, but to the num¬ 
ber of young players who appear with each re¬ 
turning spring— 

Thick as the motes that twinkle in the snn. 

These know a little about cricket, but sometimes so 
little of the principles and laws upon which the 
game is governed, that their disputations assume a 
disagreeable form. Wrangling is not reasoning. 
The object aimed at in these notes is to explain as 
clearly as possible matters upon which doubts have 
arisen, by citing cases where needed, for the gui¬ 
dance of young umpires and others who may fall in 
with similar cases. The whole code of laws might 
be reconstructed to advantage, as nowadays there 
is very much in cricket for which the laws afford 
neither direction nor control. Hence custom takes 
the place of law, and as the custom of one place 
differs materially from that of another, confusion is 
the result. 


The Treble-Seamed Ball, 


105 


THE BALL 

1. Must not weigh less than five ounces and a half, 
nor more than five ounces and three-quarters. It 
must measure not less than nine inches, nor more 
than nine inches and one-quarter in circumference. 
At the beginning of each innings either party may 
call for a new ball. 

In order to bring a ball within the scope defined, 
the process of making it involves great care and 
nicety. Most of the match balls when new are 
somewhat “ cheeked.” The object of this is to 
counteract the change of shape which it soon 
assumes after being used, as the seams are sure to 
rise. The inventor of the treble-seamed ball, as 
now used at Lord’s, was one John Small, a shoe¬ 
maker of Petersfield, in Hampshire, who acquired, 
as he deserved, a very handsome competence for 
his skill and ingenuity. Over his shop door was 
the following; characteristic board : 

John Small, make bat and ball, 

Pitch a wicket, play at cricket, 

With any man in England. 

All first-class makers stamp their names as a 
guarantee of quality and correctness, and it rarely 
happens that a new ball is needed during a match. 


106 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

although the law allows either party to call for 
one at the commencement of each innings. The 
foundation of these halls is a cube of cork, about 
which is wound a material of wool or worsted, 
with pieces of leather so applied as by degrees to 
bring it into a spherical shape. As this inner 
portion proceeds to completion it undergoes a 
frequent and minute examination, as the contents 
of the case are accurately known. One maker alone 
(R. Dark) consumes annually more than a ton and 
a half of worsted, and nearly 500 cow or ox hides, 
and employs upon an average 35 workmen 
throughout the year. There are other balls 
than those made of leather, which have been 
introduced for the sake of economy in practice, 
such as india-rubber, gutta-percha, &c.; but the 
great objection to one and all is the “ sting” 
which they not unfrequently impart by way of 
retribution to a hard hit. 

THE BAT 

2. Must not exceed four inches and one quarter in 
the widest part; it must not be more than thirty- 
eight inches in length. 

In the primitive stages of cricket, there was 
neither limitation to length nor stipulation as to 


Bats , Quality and Material. 107 

width of the bat. As the game progressed, so the 
instruments necessary for its development were 
relatively altered and improved. In some old 
pictures hung up in the Pavilion at Lord’s, the bat 
is of great length, and curved at the lower ex¬ 
tremity. The changed character of the bowling 
suggested a pod or blade of a different shape. 
As time rolled on, the question of width forced 
if self upon the attention of the authorities, and at 
length the above dimensions were fixed upon. 
There was not, however, any restriction as to the 
length of the pod, any more than to the weight of 
the bat itself, which varies from about two pounds 
to two and a quarter. Willow is the material of 
which it is made, and no ordinary amount of judg¬ 
ment is brought to bear upon the handle, which 
varies materially in its composition and manufac¬ 
ture. Hence there is the plain match bat, the 
single and treble whalebone, the repercussive, and 
the cane-handle. The price of these varies in propor¬ 
tion to material and finish. There is a bat in the 
Pavilion at Lord’s weighing four pounds two ounces, 
which once belonged to the Earl of Winchelsea, and 
was used by the noble earl in many an important 


108 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

match of his time. When the Pavilion was de¬ 
stroyed by fire, in the year 1825, there were seve¬ 
ral bats of the antique character, proper notions of 
which can now only be formed from pictorial 
representations. 


THE STUMPS 

3. Must be three in number, twenty-seven inches 
out of the ground, the bails being eight inches in 
length, the stumps of equal and of sufficient thick¬ 
ness to prevent the ball from passing through. 

The stumps, in their complete form, constitute 
what is termed a wicket. In the incipient stages 
of cricket (about 1700), it is stated in the MS. of 
an old cricketer that the stumps were but two in 
number, and were one foot high and two feet 
wide. Several changes of dimension took place 
before the first portion of the eighteenth century; 
but in 1775 a very important alteration was made 
by the addition of a third stump, and reducing the 
breadth of the wicket to six inches, and heighten¬ 
ing it to twenty-two inches. In 1798 the 
stumps were further heightened by two inches, and 
the wicket was widened another inch. In 1818 the 


Stumps ; their Material. 


109 


standard was twenty-seven inches by eight, and a 
second bail was introduced, so that the wicket of 
the period in question was identical with that of 
the present day. No mention is made of the 
material. The stumps for many years used at 
Lord's were of lancewood. Mahogany has been 
tried; but those almost universally adopted are 
made of ash, on account of their strength and 
toughness. Various plans have been adopted for 
perfecting a wicket entire. Among many inge¬ 
nious contrivances for effecting this was one intro¬ 
duced by Messrs. Fuller and Margett. This wicket 
consists of an oblong metal plate, fixed in the 
ground by two long spikes, and fitted with three 
sunk collars of vulcanized India-rubber, which re¬ 
ceive the ends of the stumps. Each stump is held 
in position by the collars, and when struck down 
can be replaced in much less time than is ordinarily 
consumed, and without disturbing the ground. 
The entire wicket can be fixed in two’ minutes. 
Another invention, called the “ Self-acting regula¬ 
tion wicket,” or “ Stanley's patent," has also made 
its appearance. This is so constructed that, after 
yielding to the blow of a ball, it instantly regains 


110 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

its original position, so that when once pitched for 
a match, or for practice, it requires no further atten¬ 
tion, saving and except for the replacement of 
hails. The stumps are acted upon by a spiral 
spring. 

THE BOWLING CREASE 

4. Must be in a line with the stumps; six feet eight 
inches in length, the stumps in the centre, with a 
return crease at each end towards the bowler at 
right angles. 

This is “ the measured tread ” on which so much 
depends,—often the line of vexation to the bowler, 
and of much close watching on the part of the 
umpire. It is a “ no balling ” station, and a point 
to which the attention of the looker-on is turned 
with especial interest. The object of the “ return 
crease ” is to prevent the bowler from indulging in 
erratic distances from the wicket in delivering the 
ball. Very few umpires have much respect for the 
science of trigonometry, and consequently their 
right angles are often very obtuse, and not unfre- 
quently acute. It is, nevertheless, their duty to 
acquire sufficient knowledge of angles to prevent 
any unfair confusion to the batsman by allowing 


Bowling and Popping Creases. 11 ] 

such as would throw him off his given guard, which 
is generally calculated from the spot at which the 
howler is known to deliver. It does happen that 
bowlers of a somewhat elastic composition, appear 
to overstep the mark, when in reality such is not 
the case, and for this they have sometimes to pay 
an unjust penalty, for all umpires are not equally 
quick-sighted. 

iEquam memento rebus in arduis 
Servare pedem. 

“ In the arduous task of bowling preserve the 
measured tread.” 

THE POPPING CREASE. 

5. Must be four feet from the wicket, and parallel to 
it; unlimited in length, but not shorter than the 
bowling crease. 

Our early legislators decreed that the “ popping 
crease ” should be cut exactly three feet ten inches 
from the wicket. In the year 1828 two inches 
were added, thus extending the batsman’s hitting 
area to the present size. The practice of cutting 
the creases was kept up at Marylebone till within 
the last five years, much to the detriment of the 


112 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

ground itself, as it tended to destroy the fibre of 
the turf, already in a decaying state. The plan 
now adopted almost everywhere is to set out the 
wicket by a wooden frame, of the exact dimen¬ 
sions required by the statute, and then to describe 
the crease by a white line outside the frame. This 
can be re-whitened when soft weather has obli¬ 
terated it. In the very early stages of cricket the 
popping crease was altogether unknown, as a large 
hole was dug out between the two stumps which 
constituted the wicket, and into this hole the butt 
end of the bat had to be plunged, indicating a 
run effectually made. As many severe injuries arose 
from the wicket-keeper’s hand coming in contact 
with the striker’s bat, a popping crease suggested 
itself, and its adoption followed. Although the 
term “ unlimited,” as applied to the popping crease, 
is as intelligible as language can convey its 
meaning, a case is recorded of a man being given 
out because he ran round his ground. The umpire 
was “ taken off,” but the match was lost owing to 
this blunder. 


Choice of Pitching. 


113 


WICKETS 

6. Must be pitched opposite to each other by the 
umpires, at the distance of twenty-two yards. 

Like the laws of the Medes and Persians, No. 
6 altereth not. Why twenty-two yards were ori¬ 
ginally resolved upon as the limits of distance, is 
not more mysterious than the appointment of 
eleven persons necessary for playing the game. 
Imagination has taken very wild flights respecting 
this subject. Although the law in question makes 
no mention of the choice of pitching, custom 
awards the privilege to the parties leaving home. 
The wickets must be set up within thirty yards of 
a centre that has been selected by the resident 
players. If one or more matches be contested on 
the same ground, then it devolves on the umpires 
to select a spot equally advantageous to both par¬ 
ties. In case of a challenge it is usual for the 
challenged to have the choice of playing the first 
match out, or at home. 

7. It shall not be lawful for either party during a 
match, without the consent of the other, to alter 
the ground by rolling, watering, covering, mow- 

I 


114 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

ing, or beating, except at the commencement ot 
each innings, when the ground may be swept and 
rolled at the request of either party ; such request 
to be made to one of the umpires within one 
minute after the conclusion of the former innings. 
This rule is not meant to prevent the striker from 
beating the ground with his bat near to the spot 
where he stands during the innings, nor to prevent 
the bowler from filling up holes with sawdust, 
&c. when the ground shall be wet. 

When cricket was in its infancy, or at least 
before it shadowed forth the stalwart proportions 
of the present age, no such law as the above was 
necessary. The bowling was simple in character, 
and the danger appertaining thereto was nothing 
in comparison with that which accompanies the 
speed of many a round-arm celebrity at this day. 
Any excrescence or undulation in that part of the 
playing ground on which the ball is most likely to 
pitch is fraught with great danger, while it tends 
also to baffle the best directed energies of all con¬ 
cerned in the match. Every precaution ought to 
be taken to prevent accidents arising from hard 
and uneven surfaces. The scythe, roller, hydrants, 
and such like instruments, should be brought into 


Making Holes in the Ground . 115> 

service several days before a match is attempted. In 
extreme cases the refusal of a request generally 
deemed necessary, would subject an umpire to the 
question of fitness for an equity judge, which office 
for the time being he actually holds. On the 
other hand, there would be an evil in allowing cer¬ 
tain batsmen to indulge the practice of makings 
holes in the ground for a footing. This had grown 
to such an inconvenient extent a few years ago, 
that the Marylebone Club instructed their umpires 
to interfere and check the practice. The evil, how¬ 
ever, still exists in some quarters. Sawdust has 
been used for nearly a century. When Rule 7 was 
first introduced, the parties were compelled to apply 
for the roller and broom within one minute of 
going in. This short notice was repealed in 1859, 
and the law enlarged to its present dimensions. 

8. After rain the wickets may be changed with the 
consent of both parties. 

Rarely, indeed, does it occur now-a-days to 
meet with men who offer any impediments to so 
rational a proposition. But in past times when 
heavy sums were dependent upon the issue of a 
i 2 


116 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

match, matters assumed shapes as ugly as cor¬ 
responding circumstances. Umpires frequently 
“ stood in.” Such is not the case now, and these 
functionaries have merely an eye to a fair and 
honourable competition, although some perchance 
may have strong predilections, which is by no 
means unnatural. Matches have been pushed so 
far that batsmen have been half blinded by the 
mud spots they themselves have scattered about. 
A match was played a year ago at Harrow which 
continued with frequent interruptions during three 
days. As a part of the field was covered with 
water, fresh wickets were pitched on the third day, 
and this in the middle of an innings. 


THE BOWLER 

9. Shall deliver the ball within one foot on the 
ground behind the bowling crease, and within the 
return crease, and shall bowl four balls before he 
change wickets, which he shall be permitted to do 
once only in the same innings. 

In essence, this law is coeval with the game 
itself, and the form of expression varies even now 
very slightly from the first code in which it 


Cashiering an Umpire. 


117 


appeared. Its common sense character may, to a 
great extent, account for the needlessness of 
change. In spite, however, of clear expression, an 
umpire in a very important match not more than 
five years ago, called “ no ball " because the bowler 
delivered it with both feet behind the bowling 
crease. Much disagreement arose in consequence. 
Certain savans present declared in favour of the 
umpire's decree, while others as strictly protested 
against the stupidity of the same. A remedy was 
found in cashiering the umpire for evermore. Al¬ 
though some clubs insist upon bowling more than 
four balls to the over, the M.C.C. do not perceive 
any necessity for such a departure from a time- 
honoured edict. Some contend for five balls, being 
more convenient as a submultiple of ten, and 
thereby affording greater facilities of gathering up 
the analysis from a score-sheet; but if the whim 
of every theorist were to be consulted, there is no 
telling what figure to hit upon. The bowler, on a 
blistering summer day finds four balls quite enough. 
The permission to change wickets once only in the 
same innings is intended to operate as a check to 
the wiles of a bowler when the match is running 


118 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

close. Were not some wholesome restraint at hand 
a bowler who had taken the measure of his oppo¬ 
nent might, and doubtlessly would, press unduly 
upon him. “ Once only.” 

10. The ball must be bowled. If thrown or jerked, 
the umpire shall call “ No ball.” 

Until the year 1864 this law was the fruitful 
theme for strife and disputation, to say nothing of 
the positive ill-will which was engendered in con¬ 
sequence of laxity on the one hand, and rigid 
enforcement on the other. The task of dispensing 
the law was often found to be surrounded with 
difficulties which overtaxed the ingenuity and 
acuteness of the most reliable umpires. What was 
regarded as a throw or jerk by one pair of eyes, 
appeared quite a different thing to another set of 
visual organs. Since 1827 Law 10 has undergone 
many and withal extraordinary changes. The in¬ 
troduction of round-arm bowling quite upset pre¬ 
existing forms. Of course, very strong objections 
were raised against Mr. Willes’s style, and, as else¬ 
where observed, several great trial matches took 
place very soon after. Umpires were commissioned 


Unrestricted Bowling. 


119 


to watch with a keen eye the elevation of the arm, 
but notwithstanding their vigilance, it rose and 
rose until it reached “ the swing of glory ” From 
that period till recently the Marylebone legis¬ 
lators found themselves unequal to the subject of 
dispute. Now, all restriction as to the height of 
hand or arm is removed, and men may legally 
do what before they defiantly did—viz., bowl as 
high as they choose. Whether the alteration is 
an advantage to cricket is another question, but 
the partial enforcement of the law as it previously 
stood, and the disagreements which were con¬ 
tinually resulting therefrom,, rendered almost any 
change an advantage. 

11. He may require the striker at the wicket from 
which he is bowling to stand on that side of it 
which he may direct. 

This formed one of the early canons, and it does 
not appear to have been disturbed to any appreciable 
extent. It is one purely of convenience to the 
bowler, and would give him a wondrous advan¬ 
tage if not in some way kept in wholesome check. 
Moreover, a batsman might not feel himself very 


120 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

well pleased at being te required ” first to this side 
and anon to that, according to the caprice of a 
bowler. The only difference between the original 
and the present law exists in the word “ order” 
and “ require.” The former certainly wears a far 
more imperative aspect than the latter. What 
the effect of a refusal on the part of an obstinate 
batsman might lead to is not pointed out. In all 
probability the umpire’s services would be called 
into action. 

12. If the bowler shall toss the ball over the striker’s 
head, or bowl it so wide that in the opinion of 
the umpire it shall not be fairly within the reach 
of the batsman, he shall adjudge one run to the 
parties receiving the innings, either with or with¬ 
out an appeal, which shall be put down to the 
score of wide balls; such balls shall not be 
reckoned as one of the four balls; but if the 
batsman shall by any means bring himself within 
reach of the ball, the run shall not be adjudged. 

Elsewhere, the question of what is a wide ball 
forms the subject-matter of a note; and here, too, 
it forces itself prominently forward. A somewhat 
curious incident relating to a wide ball took place 


Wide Balls ill defined . 


121 


two years since at the Oval. Mr. E. M. Grace 
bowled a ball by no means of the ordinary kind, for 
it culminated nearly twenty feet, and dropt at an 
angle altogether unlooked for by the batsman, who, 
however, drove the awkward visitor to leg, and 
scored two runs. The dose was repeated, but 
Jupp turned sulky, and did not attempt to play it; 
then came a third, and being again disregarded, 
the wicket was hit. The umpire declared in favour 
of the bowling, but the lookers-on hissed, and 
denounced it as unfair and old-womanish. Here 
it may not be amiss to ask why a ball passing 
from ten to twenty feet over the head of a batsman 
should be called “ wide? ” Mr. William Denison 
frequently urged the M.C.C. to a definition of a 
wide ball, but he did not live to witness one to his 
satisfaction. The first mention of “ wides 33 on the 
score sheet appears to be in a match at Brighton 
between Kent and Sussex. Previous to this they 
were lumped with byes. 

13. If the bowler deliver a “No ball,” or a “Wide 
ball,” the striker shall be allowed as many runs 
as he can get, and he shall not be put out, except 
by running out. In the event of no run being 


122 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

obtained by any other means, then one run 
shall be added to the score of “No balls,” or 
“ Wide balls,” as the case may be. All runs 
obtained for “ Wide balls ” to be scored to 
“ Wide balls.” The names of the bowlers who 
bowl “Wide balls,” or “No balls,” shall be 
placed on the score, to show the parties by whom 
either score is made. If the ball shall first 
touch any part of striker’s dress or person (ex¬ 
cept his hands) the umpire shall call “ Leg-bye.” 

First comes the inquiry, what is to be under¬ 
stood by a “ wide ball ?” Here often great con¬ 
fusion prevails, as the matter is totally in the 
hands, or rather brain, of the umpire, and there 
are as many opinions respecting a wide ball as 
there are individuals selected to determine there¬ 
upon. The prevailing definition of a wide ball is, 
one bowled beyond the reach of the striker, sup¬ 
posing him to make a reasonable effort to hit it. 
But then it is argued that there is a very material 
variation in the reach of batsmen when extended 
to the utmost dimensions, so that the same kind 
of ball may be within and without reach, according 
to the physical condition of the striker. From the 
vagueness of the rule much dissatisfaction pre- 


The Score Sheet . 


123 


vails. It frequently occurs that some inexpert 
administrator of the law commits himself by calling 
“ wide 33 after the ball has been hit, simply because 
it was not pitched straight. It has been deter¬ 
mined that a batsman may be caught from a ball 
thus wrongly called. Surely, something more 
satisfactory and definite ought to prevail. 

In a recent match at Birmingham a “ no ball 33 
was called, which the batsman hit, and was caught 
at random, but of course, not out. In summing- 
up the analysis, the “ over 33 was denominated a 
maiden. The question arose, whether an over from 
which even a “ no ball 33 was scored could be so 
accounted. One umpire said it could, while the 
other as firmly repudiated it. In order to carry 
out the injunctions of this law fully, every scorer 
should be furnished with a sheet properly prepared 
for the purpose. Some twenty years ago Mr. Roby, 
a schoolmaster, devised a system of scoring some¬ 
what elaborate in style when compared to the 
primitive sheets adopted until recently at Lord's. 
Mr. Roby’s sheet, when properly filled in, is a com¬ 
plete reflex of the match itself. It might not here 
be amiss to suggest a change in the preposition 


124 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

“ by 33 for “ from 33 in this law, as the bowler’s 
adversaries—not they—are the parties who score. 

Whether one or more runs result from one and 
the same wide or no ball, they must be recorded in 
their respective columns on the score-sheet. For¬ 
merly but one run was scored for a wide or no ball, 
and at this day some bowlers complain that they 
should be visited in the score-sheet with the punish¬ 
ment due to other people’s transgressions. 

The calling of a “ leg-bye ” is usually per¬ 
formed by the umpire putting his hand to his leg, 
or lifting the leg up. This run has not been ac¬ 
knowledged till within the last twenty years. A 
suggestion was made by Mr. Denison, in the year 
1845, to particularize runs obtained off the padded 
legs from those which went more directly to 
the long-stop. At first he was pooh-poohed, but 
at length his reasoning prevailed, and in 1850 it 
formed part of the present law. 

14. At the beginning of each innings the umpire 
shall call “Play.” From that time to the end of 
each innings no trial ball shall be allowed to any 
bowler. 

Any explanatory remarks upon such a law as 


Trial Balls forbidden , yet allowed. 125 

this may at first sight appear altogether super¬ 
fluous. Of late years, however, the practice has 
extended itself of trial balling. The framers 
of No. 14 supposed—and naturally so—that the 
bowlers came to a match fully prepared for busi¬ 
ness, and if not, the preliminary practice which 
almost invariably attends a match would suffice. 
About fifty years ago two trial balls were permitted, 
but for the last quarter of a century at least, the 
practice was disallowed. Some persons, however, 
maintain that the prohibition extended only to 
bowling at the wicket, and that a trial ball might 
be allowed, if bowled at the side. Nothing looks 
more unsightly than side-wicket bowling while the 
match is in progress. Moreover, it is unfair to the 
batsman, and it is but scant justice—if justice at 
all—merely to witness the character of the change 
bowling without being allowed to try what line of 
defence may be found best adapted to grapple with 
it. One of two things is demanded, repeal the 
clause or enforce it. 


126 


Theory and Practice of Cricket. 


THE STRIKER II OUT 

15. If either of the bails be bowled off, or if a stump 
be bowled out of the ground. 

Clear as if written with a sunbeam. Cases have, 
however, occurred, of which the promoters of the 
law never dreamt. The natural inference was, if 
the stumps were struck, the bails would fall. A 
few years since, at a very important match, the 
wicket was so struck that one of the bails flew from 
the socket of the stump into the air and fell back 
again into its place. Now there could be no mis¬ 
take about the removal of the bail, but the striker 
was declared not out. A curious case also hap¬ 
pened at Brighton not very long ago. The ball 
wedged itself between the stumps without caus¬ 
ing the bails to fall! This has been denied as 
one of the impossibles at cricket; but “ facts are 
stubborn things.” 

16. Or, if the ball from the stroke of the bat or hand, 
but not the wrist, be held before it touch the 
ground, although it be hugged to the body of the 
catcher. 

Some persons regard fielding of the “ hugged ” 


Limits of Popping Creases. 127 

character as clumsy. It is very easy, however, to 
sit and look at a match, and make condemnatory 
remarks, but not quite so easy always to “ do the 
thing clean P Some very difficult fielding is at 
times quite unappreciated, especially if it does not 
happen to partake of the sensational class. 

17. Or, if in striking, or at any other time while the 
ball shall be in play, both his feet shall be over 
the popping crease, and his wicket put down, 
except his bat be grounded within it. 

Many have been the disputes respecting the fair¬ 
ness of a bowler in putting down a wicket while 
pretending to deliver the ball. At first glance the 
act appears to be childish, and utterly unworthy the 
noble character of cricket; but if a batsman makes 
a start before the ball is really delivered, he takes 
an undue advantage, and must bear the conse¬ 
quences. The ground between the popping crease 
and wicket belongs to the batsman, and the instant 
he leaves it he exposes himself to the adversary. 
The bat must be grounded within the limits of the 
popping crease—that is, beyond, cr over the white 
line, not upon it, as the crease itself is a part of the 


128 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

measured ground between wickets. In the event 
of a batsman being put out, it has been asked how 
the event is to be recorded in the score-sheet. In 
all cases where the wicket is put down while the 
batsman is not in the act of striking, it should be 
"run out;” but while in the act of striking, it 
should be "stumpt.” 

18. Or, if in striking at the ball, he hit down his 
wicket. 

“ Hit wicket” was punishable a century ago, and 
has stood in the list of capital offences ever since. 
A singular case transpired in the return match 
between Kent and Sussex, in the year 1866. 
Wells, a Sussex batsman of very diminutive 
physical proportions, happened to hit his wicket 
while preparing to meet the bowler, but before the 
ball was delivered. The umpire gave the man out, 
but his decision was warmly disputed. How, it 
was asked, could a batsman be " striking at the 
ball ” which was undelivered ? 

If a batsman, in making a run, should happen to 
hit his wicket either with his bat or any part of his 
person, he would not be out, unless it be done with 


Second Striking. 


129 


the intention of leaving his opponents a broken 
wicket to deal with. This is a point for either of 
the umpires to decide. 

19. Or, if under pretence of running, or otherwise, 
either of the strikers prevents a ball from being 
caught, the striker of the ball is out. 

“ Prevents,” in this instance, is meant to imply 
a design on the part of the batsman to thwart a 
fielder in the execution of his duty. The matter 
is one of reference entirely. But who, it may be 
asked, can penetrate the labyrinthine mazes of pur¬ 
pose ? An umpire may be a very acute cricketer, 
but nevertheless sadly up in his metaphysics. 
Yet he settles the affair off-hand, and there is no 
appeal from his decree. It may be well here to 
observe that in running between wickets each 
batsman should keep his own side. 

20. Or, if the ball be struck and he wilfully strike 
it again. 

“ Wilfully” is an adverb in legal formularies of 
very ugly aspect. In the matter of cricket, a 
batsman is fully justified in wilfully striking the 
K 


130 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

ball a second time if it be in defence of his wicket. 
The object of the law in question is to prevent a 
striker from thwarting the field by a dangerous 
and improper interference with the ball when hit 
away from his wicket. He cannot score from a 
second hit. A case is recorded, in the year 1832, 
of a batsman who, in effecting a run, prevented 
the ball from reaching the wicket-keeper’s hands 
by the interposition of his bat, and the man was 
given out, and very properly so. 

21. Or, if in running the wicket be struck down by 
a throw, or by the hand or arm (with ball in 
hand) before his bat (in hand) or some part of 
his person be grounded over the popping crease. 
But if both bails be off, a stump must be struck 
out of the ground. 

“ Ball in hand” means the hand which knocks 
down the wicket, or, in other words, the ball must 
not be in hand undetached from that which puts 
the wicket down. A case occurred recently of a 
wicket-keeper prostrating the wicket with one hand 
and holding up the ball with the other. On appeal 
to the great authority for the time being, a verdict 


Wrong Decision. 


131 


of “not out” was pronounced. This was repudi¬ 
ated by some, and accepted as a sound decision by 
others. But the umpire was wrong. Had the 
wrist of the hand which held the ball touched any 
portion of that which put down the wicket, it 
would have been a good decision, as contact is 
necessary. Here it may be right to remark that, 
although the method of scoring at the present day 
is a vast improvement upon that of half a century 
ago, it is still incomplete in some important de¬ 
tails,—in the case, for instance, of a long-field,, 
who probably may be played almost entirely for 
his great efficiency in that position. He may 
“ throw out” two or three during a match, and 
yet no mention of such feats are recorded on the 
score sheets. Our countrymen at the antipodes 
estimate a good long-field at a high rate, and take 
care that successful throwing is properly recorded, 
which it is not when merely “run out'' is placed 
against a name. 

22. Or, if any part of the striker’s dress knock down 
the wicket. 

That is to say, any part of the dress while the 
k 2 


132 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

batsman is in the act of striking. Here the 
opportunity is convenient for observing that if a 
wicket be knocked down by a ball struck from the 
opposite batsman, the man would not be out, even 
if he happened to be off his ground. The ball 
must be fielded. It has been held, however, 
that, if the ball merely touches the hand, or even 
other parts of the body of the fielder, and is in 
consequence directed into the wicket, the party, if 
he be out of his ground, loses his wicket. The 
only part of the striker's dress that is liable to 
imperil his wicket is his hat, and this he usually 
guards against by testing its adherence to its pro¬ 
per place before he ventures to strike, for the wind 
is often a capricious enemy. 

If any part of the striker's dress impede the 
ball so as to retain it temporarily, the batsman 
may be caught from it. A few years since a bats¬ 
man played a ball into the folds of his pads, where 
it remained until removed by the wicket-keeper. 
“How's that, umpire?" “Out! caught wicket¬ 
keeper." A somewhat similar circumstance of older 
date is recorded. A few runs were wanted to win, 
and a dependable batsman was sent in : he played 


Singular situations of Ball. 135 

the first ball into his breeches pocket and started 
to run, and would have continued his course up to 
the winning figure had not an antagonist rolled 
him over and abstracted the ball. Another ease is 
mentioned in which the ball ran up the handle of 
the bat and secreted itself in the batsman's jacket- 
pocket. The batsman ran round the field in order 
to work it out without touching it, and eventually 
succeeded—though pursued by a strong muster of 
the field—and got back to his wicket before the 
ball could be thrown in. Another case, still more 
singular, is stated to have occurred with the cele¬ 
brated Mr. Ward, who played the ball into the 
inclosure of his pantaloons, and as extraction by 
the field was out of the question, the matter was 
compromised. 

23. Or, if the striker touch or take up the ball 
while in play, unless at the request of the oppo¬ 
site party. 

To an ordinary observer No. 23 might be re¬ 
garded as an encumbrance to the statute book, so- 
rarely is it brought under notice. A little inspec¬ 
tion opens up at least one very important proposi- 


134 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

lion, viz., that the bat and the ball cannot be con¬ 
founded in their respective times and usages 
without destroying one of the primary and 
essential principles of cricket. No batsman has 
any right whatever to handle the ball while a 
match is in progress, and no fielder ought to make 
use of tl)e bat under any circumstances until his 
legitimate turn arrives so to do. The last law in 
the statute book—in language not to be mistaken— 
forbids the use of the bat by a fielder, although it 
does not punish him after the same fashion as it 
does a batsman whose fingers wittingly or other¬ 
wise handle the ball. 

It is somewhat strange that no mention is made 
in any law respecting the number of persons com¬ 
posing the “ opposite party." Nyren says, in his 
u Cricketers’ Guide,” the number of players in a 
complete game should comprise twenty-two men, 
nleven on each side, and that the arrangement is 
so much the result both of judgment and expe¬ 
rience, that the practitioner will find it difficult to 
spare one of them in a match. As yet no one has 
hazarded an opinion respecting this mystic num¬ 
ber ; there was doubtlessly a reason for it. On the 


Bowling Perplexities. 


135 


construction of double-wicket a great deal of 
thought must have been expended before thought 
assumed the shape of law—whether written or 
understood. The early promoters might have been 
“ fast” in one cricketing sense, but they were by 
no means slow in another. 

24. Or, if with any part of his person he stop the 
ball, which in the opinion of the umpire at the 
bowler’s wicket, shall have been pitched in a 
straight line from it to the striker’s wicket and 
would have hit it. 

Notwithstanding the apparent plainness of this 
rule, it is the most perplexing and disagreeable of 
the whole code. Many ingenious theories have 
been planned for simplifying it, but at present 
without success. Every cricketer must admit that 
with the present style of bowling the law is a 
nullity. A ball to get a wicket will rarely be 
pitched as required by the law, and when 
it does so it will rather work to the off than 
to the wicket, and in some instances it will 
even break back; and thus it is almost impossible 
for the umpire, standing where he does, to say that 


136 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

a ball wide-pitched will have the right bias to hit 
the wicket. It has been stated repeatedly by those 
who have examined the matter critically, that a 
round-arm bowler, in delivering a ball outside the 
wicket, cannot pitch it within the line from wicket 
to wicket so that it would hit the stumps. Nor 
was it ever contemplated that a batsman should be 
taught to calculate the peculiar spin that an expert 
(slow) might put on the ball, or a rough ground 
give to a wide-pitched one, and then if he failed to 
strike it, and it hit his leg, that he should be given 
out. The question also of the line from wicket to 
wicket, or from hand to wicket, ought to be deter¬ 
mined upon at once. Law 10 has ceased to dis¬ 
tract the attention of the legislator and annoy the 
player; why should not 24 be grappled with, and 
its tormenting elements be rooted out ? 


25. If the players have crossed each other, he 
that runs for the wicket which is put down is 
out. 

There are ten ways in which a batsman may be 
got out, and this is one of them. 


Impeded Balls. 


137 


26. A ball being caught, no run shall be reckoned. 

In other words, the batsman who is caught out 
in the act of attempting a run cannot score, even 
if he completed a run before being caught. A 
ball caught in its descent from the roof of a house or 
other building, from a rebound against a wall, or 
falling from a tree, will not make the striker out. 
All such balls are regarded as “ let ” or hindered 
balls, impeded in the course which they otherwise 
would have taken. 

27. A striker being run out, that run which he 
and his partner were attempting shall not be 
reckoned. 

This wholesome regulation was suggested in con¬ 
sequence of a practice which at one time prevailed of 
daring a run upon the feeblest pretence when the 
match was nearing its close, and when perhaps but 
two or three runs were wanting, and as many per¬ 
sons were provided to get them. It was “nip, 
touch, and away.” Such play was regarded as 
childish and contemptible; hence the law in ques¬ 
tion. 


138 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

While running is in progress the scorer’s closest 
attention is needed. The scorers ought to have an 
assistant to wait on the telegraph. This instru¬ 
ment is usually placed in proximity with the 
scoring box or tent, so that a constant communi¬ 
cation is kept up, and the state of the game 
declared at short intervals. The telegraph is gene¬ 
rally about ten feet in height, and the upper por¬ 
tion, or face, is provided with grooves into which 
iron plates of about a foot square are inserted. On 
each of these is painted a figure. In the top groove 
the total amount of runs by the party at the 
wicket is placed. In the middle groove, the num¬ 
ber of wickets down, and in the lower, the number 
of runs obtained by the last man out. When it is 
considered that on I Zingari and other visits to 
the Viceregal play-grounds at Dublin, the late 
highly-accomplished and most estimable nobleman, 
the Earl of Carlisle, would officiate as scorer, the 
office becomes dignified, and every one who hence¬ 
forth holds it ought to feel himself a man of im¬ 
portance, at least for the time being. 

28. If a lost ball be called, the striker' shall be 
allowed six runs; but if more than six shall 


Lost Ball Curiosities. 


139 


have been run before lost ball shall have been 
called, then the striker shall have all which 
have been run. 

Many curious and almost incredible circum¬ 
stances connected herewith might be enumerated. 
Originally the law was intended to apply to balls 
struck at so great a distance as to elude the fielder's 
observation. When such was the case he would 
call out “ lost ball/' in order to stop the running, 
which otherwise might be continued to an indefinite 
length. A case is recorded of a ball being caught 
by a mastiff dog before a single run was com¬ 
pleted. The fielder finding it was vain to coax 
this ugly customer out of the prize he possessed, 
tried harsher means, but to no purpose. He then 
claimed his lost-ball privilege, and soon after the 
dog was whistled off. In another place, a ball was 
struck with such force into the crevice of a tree 
that the fielder applied all the resources at his com¬ 
mand to extract it, but in vain. The batsmen 
were making the most of this singular event until 
the cry of lost ball stopt further running. A third 
instance—a ball rolled into a pond and floated to 
within two yards of the bank. The fielder had 


140 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

no relish for a hath, and no means were at hand 
to enable him to pull the ball ashore. Failing to 
call lost ball, the batsmen continued running, and 
succeeded in effecting seven runs, the last of which 
won the match. One more singular case is worth 
quoting. A match was played upon a portion of a 
common set apart for cricketing purposes, and 
which was kept in beautiful order. A somewhat 
unusually hard hitter sent the ball far beyond the 
ordinary bounds, and it lodged in a furze bush 
thoroughly armed at all points against aggressive 
legs and fingers [Nemo imjoune , &c.) The fielder was 
confused, while the batsmen ran like antelopes, as 
but few runs were wanting by them. The ball was 
as visible in the bush as the sun was above it, yet 
it could not be extracted before the match was won 
by calling lost ball. Query, can that be really a 
lost ball which can be touched and seen, and yet 
not be handled by ordinary means ? 

29. After the ball shall have been finally settled in 
the wicket-keeper’s or bowler’s hand, or shall 
have passed through the hands of the wicket¬ 
keeper for the bowler to resume bowling, it shall 
be considered dead; but when the bowler is 


Holding the Ball. 


141 


about to deliver the ball, if the striker at his 
wicket go outside the popping crease before such 
actual delivery, the said bowler may put him 
out, unless (with reference to the 21st law) his 
bat in hand, or some part of his person be within 
the popping crease. 

The ruse frequently adopted by very acute 
wicket-keepers of holding the ball in order to 
catch the less experienced hitter off his guard, has 
long been denounced as a contemptible experiment. 
“ Finally settled ” is when the wicket-keeper has 
taken the ball, and the batsman is within the 
limits of the popping crease. It is the duty of the 
wicket-keeper to return the ball immediately. If, 
however, it be the last ball of the over, it is dead 
without being returned. As regards the bowler, 
it is quite fair for him to turn round and put down 
a wicket if the batsman has left it to “ follow up ” 
for a supposed run. Herein the batsman offends 
the law, and deserves the punishment awarded to 
such transgressors.—See Law 17. 


SO. The striker shall not retire from his wicket and 
return to it to complete his innings after another 


142 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

has been in, without the consent of the opposite 
party. 

No one will question the propriety of such a law 
as this; the injured and retiring party, however, 
ought not to come in again until a wicket has 

o o 

fallen. 

31. No substitute shall in any case be allowed to 
stand out or run between wickets for another 
person without the consent of the opposite party; 
and in case any person shall be allowed to run 
for another, the striker shall be out if either he 
or his substitute be off the ground in manner 
mentioned in Laws 17 and 21, while the ball is 
play. 

A ff sub.” very often appears upon the scene, but 
his chief must take the consequences both of his 
incompetence and rashness, should either manifest 
itself. Sometimes strange incidents occur, and 
many perplexities to the country mind. A short 
time since a match took place in Berkshire, in 
which, for the sake of illustration, A. and B. were 
batsmen. B. required a sub. B. struck a ball, 
from which A. and C. effected a run. B., seeino* 

' o 

the certainty of A. and C. getting home in time. 


Principals and Substitutes. 14S 

walked leisurely to the wicket where his deputy 
runner was. The ball was thrown in, and the 
wicket-keeper prostrated the stumps at which A. 
was. The umpire being appealed to, replied 
“ out.” C. asked who was out? The umpire 
answered A., but presently changed his mind, and 
said B. Now it is quite clear that the judge was 
wrong in each decree. 

At Harpenden a batsman had a deputy, and 
in hitting a leg-ball struck him on the back. 
The ball was caught by the wicket-keeper, and the 
batsman was given out. 

A case recently occurred at Gravesend in which 
the principal, forgetting he had a substitute, made 
a run, but it did not count. Another case of 
forgetfulness is recorded, in which the principal 
ran instead of his sub., and had his wicket put 
down. What was the verdict? Out, according 
to Law 17. Another noteworthy case occurred at 
Brighton a year ago, in a match between the 
Boyal Artillery and the Gentlemen of Sussex. 
The “sub.” ran, his principal followed up (no 
doubt unthinkingly). An effort was made to put 
down the opposite wicket, but failed; the ball was 


144 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

then thrown to the other end, and, as neither 
principal nor deputy were within bounds, the 
principal was given out, apparently much asto¬ 
nished, not dreaming of the activity of the field. 

32. In all cases where a substitute shall be allowed, 
the consent of the opposite party shall also be 
obtained as to the person to act as substitute, 
and the place in the field which he shall take. 

A very few years ago the situations of the sub¬ 
stitute were negatively set forth; thus, he was 
not to bowl, keep wicket, stand at point, cover 
point, or stop behind in any case. 

33. If any fieldsman stop the ball with his hat, the 
ball shall be considered dead, and the opposite 
party shall add five runs to their score; if any 
be run, they shall have five in all. 

Very rarely does a violation here occur—so 
rarely, in fact, that scarce one person in ten who 
witnesses a match is aware of such a rule beinsr in 
existence. About three years since the wicket¬ 
keeper in a county match took off his pads, and 
threw them down in the locality of short-leg. 


The Bishop’s Apron. 


145 


Presently a ball was impeded by them, and the 
party who was in appealed to the umpire, who 
awarded the five runs penalty for the hat obstruc¬ 
tion. A few years since the Bishop of an English 
diocese, after the ceremony of a confirmation, joined 
a party at a cricket match. His lordship said, 
“ Pll make the best long-stop you ever saw, for Fve 
got an apron.” He certainly did good service 
thereby. Query, how many runs ought to have 
been forfeited? 

34. The ball having been hit, the striker may guard 
his wicket with his bat or with any part of his 
body except his hands, that the 23rd Law may 
not be disobeyed. 

Originally the decree ran thus :—' c If a striker 
nips a ball up just before him, he may fall before 
his wicket, or pop down his bat before she comes 
to it, to save it. 

35. The wicket-keeper shall not take the ball for 
the purpose of stumping, unless it has passed the 
wicket; he shall not move till the ball be out of 
the bowler’s hand: he shall not by any noise in¬ 
commode the striker; and if any part of his per- 

L 


146 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

son be over or before the wicket, although the 

ball hit it, the striker shall not be out. 

In the important discharge of their duties the 
umpires have to look keenly after the contingen¬ 
cies to which the above rule refers. The main 
object is to prevent an over-dexterous custodian of 
the wicket from outstepping the prescribed boun¬ 
dary assigned for his operations. An inexperienced 
umpire is likely to be bamboozled by sharp practi¬ 
tioners, whose game is old and unsuccessful among 
undaunted professionals. The law itself is 
plain enough, and only requires vigilance and de¬ 
termination on the part of its administrators. 
Sometimes the bowling is of such a character that 
a wicket-keeper is dispensed with; it not un- 
frequently happens that alarm is created at the 
furious pace at which the ball is made to travel, 
and the wicket-keeper leaves so considerable a dis¬ 
tance between himself and the batsman that stump¬ 
ing is a matter of no trifling difficulty. Should 
the wicket be struck down by the ball thrown from 
the wicket-keeper’s hand, the batsman would bo 
recorded as run out, not stumpt. 


Inefficient Umpires. 


14 7 


36. The umpires are sole judges of fair or unfair 
play, and all disputes shall be determined by 
them, each at his own wicket; but in case of a 
catch which the umpire at the wicket bowled 
from cannot see sufficiently to decide upon, he 
may apply to the other umpire, whose opinion 
shall be conclusive. 

A bit of bungling on the part of the umpires in 
an important match recently occurred at Cam¬ 
bridge, which deserves mention as a warning to 
sleepy or inefficient persons who may aspire to the 
onerous post. A ball was struck, and a doubtful 
catch resulted therefrom—doubtful on account of 
its difficulty, and it became the subject of appeal. 
The first umpire said “ he didn’t see it/’ and the 
second declared “ he wasn’t looking.” The bats¬ 
man of course retained his post, and made a score 
sufficiently long to win the match by, although the 
last wicket. Now it may be asked who is to esti¬ 
mate the wrong-doing in such a case as this, and 
who can tell how much good cricket has been 
spoiled through similar inefficients ? If there is 
an object of charity, such object never ought to 
be paraded in the form of an umpire, on whom 
l 2 


148 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

important destinies depend, and concerning which 
a large amount of time and labour has been ex¬ 
pended in order to obtain a wreath worth the 
striving for. 

With respect to "fair and unfair play,” these 
may occur in a variety of ways, for which the laws 
have made no adequate provision. It is next to 
impossible to legislate for every incident that may 
accompany a match, however well regulated. To 
the umpire’s judgment the appeal is made, and 
whether his decree be sound or otherwise, the appel¬ 
lants must how submission thereto. 

A case occurred last year in which H. H. 
Stephenson was given out for "obstructing the 
ball.” The umpire maintained that the ball was 
kicked in order to baulk the fieldsman. II. H. 
declared otherwise, but yielded to the decision of 
the umpire. 

In a public-school match a batsman labouring 
under fearful misgivings respecting his defensive 
qualifications when tested by a slow but very 
straight bowler, kept his bat immovable in the 
blocking hole. To this the wicket-keeper de¬ 
murred, and the batsman shouted to the umpire. 


Fair Wickets. 


149 


“ Am I out if I don’t move my bat?” to which he 
received the instantaneous reply, “ You are if 
you do.” 

37. The umpires in all matches shall pitch fair 
wickets, and the parties shall toss up for the 
choice of innings. The umpires shall change 
wickets after each party has had one innings. 

“ Fair wickets ” are considered to be such when 
all the inequalities of the ground about the usual 
pitch of the ball are overcome in the best available 
manner. Care with respect to a level surface 
ought to be taken, as few bowlers like an uphill 
wicket. When the spot is determined upon, a 
stump is erected which afterwards forms the centre 
of the wicket. A wooden frame of dimensions 
requisite to compass the bowling and popping 
creases is then laid down, and an application of 
lime or chalk liquid is used to mark the boundaries. 
A chain or tape serves to measure the distance 
between wickets. No one would suppose that a 
surveyor, however humble, could mistake such a 
task, and yet about two years ago part of an 
innings had been played through in a county 


150 Theory and Practice of Cricket . 

match, when a bowler had the temerity to chal¬ 
lenge the correctness of the umpires, and in stepping 
the distance found it a yard short. 

38. They shall allow two minutes for each striker 
to come in, and ten minutes between each in¬ 
nings. When the umpires shall call “Play,” 
the party refusing to play shall lose the match. 

This very proper disposition of time is not en¬ 
forced by umpires of the present day with the 
strictness it deserves, unless perhaps when a game 
is running close, and they are reminded of their 
duty by the vociferations of interested lookers on. 
How many matches might be rescued from the 
limbo of the “ drawn ” if a prompt adherence to 
the rule in question were enforced! A case occurred 
three years since when two clubs of great self- 
importance played a match in the neighbourhood 
of the Regent's Park. One innings occupying a 
long time was completed, and seven wickets of the 
other side were down for an unsatisfactory score. 
When the next man on the list was called he 
treated the umpire with silent contempt; the call 
was repeated, still without effect. The umpire 


Waste of Time. 


151 


forthwith drew the stumps, and declared the match 
to he in favour of the party who went in first. 
The gentleman who refused to comply with the call 
felt his own dignity as well as that of his confreres 
very much compromised, hut the only remedy they 
received at the hands of the press and the public 
was “ Serve them right/'’ The waste of time at 
the present day is really monstrous, and much of 
the cricket indulged in hy clubs who have to learn 
the value of the stuff of which life is made, is of so 
little account as not to he worthy of the name= 

39. They are not to order a striker out unless ap¬ 
pealed to by the adversaries. 

They—meaning the umpires—would he very 
much “ out of order"” if they did. The importance 
of the umpire’s office may be estimated to some 
extent from the frequency of its mention in the 
laws of the game—viz., twenty times. Lord 
Bacon calls him an arbitrator, and Shakspeare 
defines an umpire, “ one who as a common friend 
decides disputes,” but as neither the chief Chan¬ 
cellor of his time, nor “the poet of all time,” 
knew anything about cricket, their definitions are 


152 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

not exactly appropriate. Minshevv derives the 
word from un jaere — i. e. a prudent man. Let 
every umpire ponder the last definition well. 

40. But if one of the bowler’s feet be not on the 
ground behind the bowling crease and within 
the return crease when he shall deliver the ball, 
the umpire at his wicket, unasked, must call 
“ No ball.” 

The word “ crease ” occurs no less than fifteen 
times in the laws of cricket, and yet the word is 
nowhere so defined as to render its meaning strictly 
clear. In referring, however, to the original laws, 
this phrase will be found “ creases shall be cut,” 
meaning thereby that an incision shall be made 
into the turf to the extent named. Of late years 
great complaints have been made respecting the 
practice of cutting the turf, seeing that it weakens 
and sometimes destroys the fibre thereof. The 
“ crease ” has, in consequence, given way to a 
white chalk line of about an inch in breadth; and 
as it seems to answer all necessary purposes satis¬ 
factorily, there is not much likelihood of returning 
to the practice of deep cuttings and extensive 



Maiden Overs. 


153 


scarifications enforced by the primitive legislators 
of cricket. Of course the “ no ball” would not 
constitute any portion of the over, any more than a 
wide, although a bye would. Here it may be well 
to remark that a bye, notwithstanding it counts 
towards the score, has no effect as regards a maiden 
over. Maidens are understood to be such as produce 
no runs from the bat. The first mention of No 
ball on the score-sheet occurs in the year 1830 in 
a match between Marylebone and Middlesex at 
Lord's. 

41. If either of the strikers run a short run, the 
umpire must call “ One short.” 

It is scarcely necessary to say here that the 
“short run” is determined by the popping crease, 
over which the bat-in-hand must be put down if 
the foot of the batsman does not arrive there. 

42. No umpire shall be allowed to bet. 

This highly beneficial rule ought also to apply 
to a scorer; for although the latter has a check¬ 
mate at his elbow, it is not difficult for an “ expert ” 
to hoodwink one less shrewd than himself. More- 


154 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

over, the mistake of a scorer would not be so 
apparent as that of an interested umpire, who has 
all eyes upon him, while a single run more or less, 
wrongly scored, would do as much injustice to the 
parties concerned in the match as the most dis¬ 
honest award of an umpire. There was a time 
when an umpire would be chosen for his known 
predilection to “ win, tie, or wrangle ” —ay, and 
who could 

Prove his doctrine orthodox 
By oft-repeated blows and knocks. 

Those days are among the unreviving past ; it is 
nevertheless a wholesome practice to put tempta¬ 
tion out of the way, and in lieu thereof to patronize 
the fearless and the just in the discharge of their 
proper duty. 

43-. No umpire is to be changed during the match, 
unless with the consent of both parties, except 
in a case of a violation of the 42nd Law; then 
either party may dismiss the transgressor. 

The only causes likely to necessitate a change 
are sudden or severe illness, or positive incapacity. 
Against the former there is no effectual guard. 


Makeshift Umpires. 


155 


although there is for the latter. How often has “ a 
good-natured fellow ” been pressed to stand, pro¬ 
bably with a view to narrow the expenses of even 
a respectable club ! To the outside world the good- 
fellow resembles the fly in amber, about which 
nobody cares, while everybody wonders how he 
got there. When a man is found to be notoriously 
wanting in the elementary principles of the game, 
his removal from the post into which he has been 
thrust is a relief to both parties—ay, and to him¬ 
self especially. Hence in such case there is little 
difficulty in carrying out the rule. A betting 
umpire is now-a-days rare as a griffin. It ought 
here to be remarked that a habit has sprung up in 
some quarters of leaving the post of umpire 
merely to keep other appointments, thereby treat¬ 
ing the law and the match with anything but due 
respect. An instance illustrative of this is recorded, 
when three umpires officiated for one party. No. 1 
left the ground within two hours of the close of a 
three-day match; No. 2 followed an hour later; 
and No. 3 was left to settle a disputed point which 
only No. 1 could fairly and properly do, and the 
game was brought to a close amidst much expressed 


156 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

dissatisfaction. Surely persons who affect so rigid 
an enforcement of one law ought not to ignore its 
next-door neighbour. 

44. After the delivery of four halls, the umpire must 
call 11 Over,” but not until the ball shall be 
finally settled in the wicket-keeper’s or bowler’s 
hand; the ball shall then be considered dead; 
nevertheless, if an idea be entertained that either 
of the strikers is out, a question may be put 
previously to, but not after, the delivery of the 
next ball. 

Sometimes in a one-day match, five or even six 
balls constitute the over. This private arrange¬ 
ment does not invalidate the general law in its 
after details. Sometimes an umpire is at fault in 
calling the over agreed upon, but the batsman 
must take the consequences thereof. A bowler or 
wicket-keeper is not to be deprived of a wicket 
(supposing he has got one) from a surplus ball, any 
more than a batsman is of the runs (if any acquired) 
from a similar defect in the umpired reckoning. The 
words “ must” and "shall ” are sufficiently stringent 
and peremptory to keep the machinery in good 
going order; and yet in a match on the Middlesex 



A Pigeon thrown at. 


157 


ground about a year since, the bowler (Hearne) 
was preparing to deliver the last ball of an over, 
when a pigeon happened to fly at a considerable 
elevation across the wickets. The bowler was so 
strongly tempted that he threw at the bird instead 
of bowling at the wicket, and proved so good a 
marksman that he brought the pigeon to earth, 
“ dead as a door-nail.” 

45. The umpire must take especial care to call “ No 
ball” instantly upon delivery. “Wide ball,” as 
soon as it shall pass the striker. 

If all umpires would wait just long enough to 
ascertain whether the ball had passed the striker 
before calling “ Wide,” many unpleasantnesses 
might be spared. The “ no ball ” is quite another 
affair, and demands speedy decision. A case is re¬ 
ported where an umpire called wide, which in reality 
was a no ball. Instantly upon delivery the ball was 
easily compassed and hit before the crease, and 
the man was caught from it. “ How's that ? ” 
from half-a-dozen voices at once. “ Out,” said 
the confused umpire. A loud protest was entered 


158 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

against the decision, and the match broke off in 
disorder. In addition to the calls suggested by 
the rule, the umpire has to take notice of byes. 
It is not a little remarkable that, with all the 
seeming regard for completeness in the manage¬ 
ment of the game, the term “ bye 33 is not even 
hinted at, although it forms so striking a charac¬ 
teristic, and is moreover regarded as one of the 
best exponents of the fielding. In its strict sense 
it means a run obtained from defective fielding 
of a ball not struck, and is generally chargeable to 
the long-stop. "When byes were first permitted 
the bowling was underhand, but when round-arm 
became “ all the go,” and pace was regarded as the 
grand object to be achieved, the bowling became 
often so dangerous that the legs of the batsmen 
needed protection, and, as necessity is the parent 
of invention, pads of various designs were brought 
into notice. Some of these were of such huge 
proportions that a ball which in all probability 
would have been secured either by wicket-keeper 
or long-stop glanced off in the direction of square- 
leg, or at least completely out of a straight course, 
and thus the fielder was charged with a mistake 


Disrespect to last Law . 


159 


quite beyond his power of overruling. Leg byes 
were then suggested.—See Law 13. 

46. The players who go in second shall follow their 
innings, if they have obtained eighty runs less 
than their antagonists, except in all matches 
limited to only one day’s play, when the number 
shall be limited to sixty instead of eighty. 

Many objections have been taken to this rule on 
the ground of unfairness. The great object in view 
is a saving of time, and to this minor matters must 
bow. It is a generally adopted rule in one- 
day matches to decide by the first innings, if 
the match is not played out.—(See note at foot 
of Law 47.) 

47. When one of the strikers shall have been put 
out, the use of the bat shall not be allowed to 
any person until the next striker shall come in. 

No law is treated with less respect than this, and 
yet on its proper observance depends one of the 
fundamental principles of the game. Tins is 
somewhat marvellous. The frequent practice of 
snatching the bat from the hand of a “ not out 39 


160 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

during the short interval of two minutes, is, to say 
the least of it, puerile and ridiculous. Moreover, 
the continuity of the game is impaired. How much 
better would he the fielding of amateur cricketers if 
they would gratify their fidgety propensities by a 
little practice with the ball during the interim, and 
thereby keep their fingers in form for a catch 
whenever it occurs, rather than subject themselves 
to the ridicule which follows a mistake. If the 
law is good and worthy of the rest, by all means 
let it be respected as well by law-makers as others, 
remembering— 

Example is a living law, wkose sway 

Men more than all the written laws obey. 

Antony and Cleopatra. 

One duty imposed on the umpire at Marylebone in 
the “ match regulations,” is to see that all matches 
played at Lord’s shall be in conformity with the 
laws of the Marylebone Club. This functionary is, 
however, at times in such a fix as to let “ I dare 
not wait upon I would.” In such case every true 
lover of cricket, and well-wisher for its furtherance, 
may well exclaim, “ Heaven help him !” 


One-day Match Stipulations. 


161 


Note.— The Committee of the Marylebone 
Club think it desirable that previously to 
the commencement of a match, one of each 
side should be declared the manager of it; 
and that the new laws with respect to sub¬ 
stitutes may be carried out in a spirit of 
fairness and mutual concession. It is their 
wish that such substitutes be allowed in all 
reasonable cases, and that the umpire should 
inquire if it is done with the consent of the 
manager of the opposite side. 

Complaints having been made that it is the 
practice of some players when at the wicket 
to make holes in the ground for a footing, 
the Committee are of opinion that the 
umpires should be empowered to prevent 
it. 

The rule in practice at Lord's, in the case of one- 
day matches, is—"That a match, in the absence of 
express stipulation to the contrary, must be played 
out, or given up before one side can claim the vic¬ 
tory, agreeably to law and with respect to bets. It 
must, therefore, be decided between the two sides 
M 


162 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

whether they intend to stand by the first innings 
or not, before the commencement of the game. If 
they don’t decide, and the match is not played out, 
it is of course drawn.” 


163 


LAWS AFFECTING SINGLE WICKET. 

These are so plain that “ he who runs may read ” 
and understand them. 

I. When there shall be less than five players on 
a side, bounds shall be placed twenty-two yards 
each in a line from the off and leg-stump. 

II. The ball must be hit before the bounds to 
entitle the striker to run, which run cannot be 
obtained unless he touch the bowling stump or 
crease in a line^ with his bat, or some part of 
his person, or go beyond them, returning to the 
popping crease as at double wicket, according to 
the 21st Law. 

III. When the striker shall hit the ball, one of 
his feet must be on the ground and behind the 
popping crease, otherwise the umpire shall call 
“ No hit.” 

IY. When there shall be less than five players 
on a side, neither byes nor over-throws shall be 
.allowed, nor shall the striker be caught out behind 
the wicket, nor stumped out. 

m 2 


164 Theory and Practice of Cricket. 

V. The fieldsman must return the ball so that 
it shall cross the play between the wicket and the 
bowling stump, or between the bowling stump 
and the bounds; the striker may run till the ball 
be so returned. 

YI. After the striker shall have made one run, 
if he start again he must touch the bowling stump 
and turn before the ball cross the play, to entitle 
him to another. 

VII. The striker shall be entitled to three runs 
for lost ball, and the same number for ball stopped 
with hat, with reference to the 28th and 33rd Laws 
of double wicket. 

VIII. When there shall be more than four 
players on a side there shall be no bounds. All 
hits, byes, and over-throws shall then be allowed. 

IX. The bowler is subject to the same laws as 
at double wicket. 

X. No more than one minute shall be allowed 
between each ball. 

BETS. 

I. No bet upon any match is payable unless it 
be played out or given up. 


Bets . 


165 


II. If the runs of one player he betted against 
those of another, the bet depends on the first 
innings, unless otherwise specified. 

III. If the bet be made on both innings, and 
one party beat the other in one innings, the runs 
of the first shall determine it. 

IY. If the other party go in a second time, then 
the bet must be determined by the number on the 
score. 


THE END. 


















. 

































































Frederick IVarne & Co ., Publishers . 


% Compendium of Cncjltsfj iptcruture. 


In 2 vols. demy 8 vo, price iol cloth; 12 J. with gilt edges; or half¬ 
calf extra, i6j. 

THE PEOPLE'S EDITION OF 

HALF-HOURS WITH THE BEST AUTHORS. 

Selected and Edited by CHARLES KNIGHT. 

With Sixteen Steel Portraits. 

“ This book contains 300 Extracts of the best efforts of our great 
standard authors, whether they be poets or historians, essayists or 
divines, travellers or philosophers, arranged so as to form half-an- 
hour’s reading for every day in the year. The study of this work will 
be the true foundation of that knowledge which renders men famous 
and celebrated.”— Daily News. 


In 4 vols. crown 8 vo, price 21 s. cloth, new style, beautifully printed 
by Ballantyne & Co., with New Steel Illustrations, 

HALF-HOURS WITH THE BEST AUTHORS. 

A LIBRARY EDITION. 

Remodelled throughout by its original Editor, Charles Knight, 
with selections from authors added, whose works have placed them 
amongst the "Best Authors’’ since the publication of the First 
Edition. 


In 1 vol. demy 8 vo, cloth, $s. ; or half-calf extra, 8 j. 

HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Selected and arranged by CHARLES KNIGHT. 

Forming a Companion Series to the " Half-Hours with the Best 

Authors.” 

The articles are chiefly selected so as to afford a succession of graphic 
parts of English History, chronologically arranged, from the considera¬ 
tion that the portions of history upon which general readers delight to 
dwell are those which tell some story which is complete in itself, or 
furnish some illustration which has a separate as well as a general 
interest. 


Bedford Street , Covent Garden. 
















Frederick TVartie iff Co ., Publishers , 


“One of the Best Books of Recreation we have seen.”— 

The Guardian. 

In crown Zvo, price 8j. 6d ., cloth gilt and gilt edges. 

THE HOME BOOK 

OF 

Pleasure and Instruction . 

AN ORIGINAL WORK, WITH 250 CHOICE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Edited by Mrs. R. VALENTINE, 

Editor of “The Girl’s Own Book," “ Aunt Louisa’s Picture Books,” &c. 

WITH ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY 

The Author of “The Heir of Redclyffe," Miss Dyson, Mrs. Ogilvy, 
Miss Stephens, Albert Warren, Henry Warren, 
Edward Dalziel, &c., &c. 


This volume aims to be a Standard Book for Play, Work, Art, Duty 
—Games for Play Hours, Work for Leisure in the Home Circle, Art 
for the Cultivation of Taste, and Duty to ensure Home Happiness. 


“ We have seldom seen so complete a store of entertaining and instructive matter. In 
fact, it is a perfect text-book of in and out-door pursuits and amusements for young 
folks .”—The Queen. 

“We have to congratulate the publishers upon the production of a book for girls, 
which we have no hesitation in pronouncing to be the very best book of the kind that has 
! ever appeared .”—The Bookseller. 

i “No pains have been spared to make this a complete repertoire of ‘home’ amusements 
[ and educational appliances. The book consists of nearly 600 pages of closely-printed 
matter, with numerous engravings; and it will be long before it is superseded by a 
I worthier rival.”— Nonconformist. 

“ What a pity it is that we do not form a part of the girls of the world, to whom this 
book is offered. Instead of being grateful for such a gift, we can but envy the favoured 
recipients. We feel sure that they will value it highly, and that it will serve as their com¬ 
panion from the cradle to the hymeneal altar. It begins with a collection of games for 
very young children. Then the games become gradually graver and more intellectual. 
Instead of dancing round the mulberry-bush, we have charades and double acrostics. We 
are no longer wolves and lambs, but Peter the Great and limited liability companies. But 
further responsibilities are entailed upon us. From dressing our dolls we are suddenly 
plunged in church work, which ought, properly speaking, to have been presided over by 
that one of the contributors to the volume to whom we owe the ‘ Six Cushions.’ We 
gradually mount to all the popular sciences under the sun. We study botany, conchology, 
heraldry, photography, wood engraving, and wax-fruit modelling. By this time we have 
about attained a marriageable age, and we close Mrs. Valentine’s Home Book in order to / 
open the multitude of small red cash-ruled manuals which answer to that name for the 1 
future.”— Spectator. 


Bedford Street , Covent Garden 

















Frederick IVarne & CoPublishers. 


A VALUABLE WORK FOR EVERY AGRICULTURIST. 

In demy Zvo, price 12 s. 6 d. y half-bound , 640/5/., 

THE 

FARMER’S CALENDAR. 

By J. CHALMERS MORTON, 

Author of “ The Prince Consort’s Farms,” “ The Cyclopedia of 
Agriculture,” “Farmer’s almanack,” etc. 


A systematic Work on Farm Practice, accompanied by Explanations 
and References to Theory when necessary ; but mainly and intention illy 
descriptive of actual Experience and Work in Field, Fold, and Farmery. 
It is fully illustrated with Wood Engravings of Buildings, Land Drainage, 
Machinery, and Plants. 


Amongst the General Contents will be found — 


1. The whole work of all 
kinds of Farms is described in 

! monthly succession, as step by 

| step it occupies the attention of 
the Farmer throughout the year. 

2. The Cultivation of all kinds 
of Soil—their Drainage, Tillage, 
and Manuring. 

3. The Cultivation of all Farm 
Crops—food for man or beast—in- 

I eluding the lesson of actual experi¬ 
ence on the different varieties of 
each, and on the cultivation proper 
for each. 

4. The Breeding, Rearing, and 
Feeding of all the Live Stock of 
the Farm, including a full account 

| of the several breeds of Horses, 
Cattle, Sheep, and Pigs ; of their 
respective peculiarities and merits ; 
of the Management required by 
each; the value of the different 
foods and processes employed in 
the meat manufacture j with in¬ 


formation on Marketing, Locali¬ 
ties, and Prices. 

5. The Use of all kinds of 
Agricultural Tools and Machines— 
for Hand-work, Horse-labour, and 
Steam-power respectively ; and the 
Economy of their employment. 

6. The relation of the Farmer 
to the Landowner, the Labourer, 
and the Soil, including all ques¬ 
tions of Rent, Lease, Tenant’s 
Rights, Wages, Permanent Im¬ 
provements of Land by Buildings, 
Roads, Drains, Fences, &c. ; and 
its Current Cultivation by Imple¬ 
ments, Plants, and Animals, re¬ 
ceives full and systematic narra¬ 
tion. 

7. The Influence of Weather, 
which overrides and influences all, 
is given in great detail, month by 
month, in reference to 30 or 40 
stations in England, Scotland, and 
Ireland. 


Bedford Street , Covent Garden. 

















Frederick IVarne & Co., Publishers. 


In large crown 8 vo, price i6j., cloth, gilt top, noo PAGES, 

TOWNSEND’S MANUAL OF DATES, 

A DICTIONARY OF REFERENCE 

TO ALL THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY 
OF MANKIND. 


In this completely New Edition, which is intended to be the Standard 
Work on the subject, the number of original articles has been increased 
from 7,383 to 11,045, the whole Work completely remodelled, 
every date verified, and every subject re-examined from the original 
authorities. 


In crown 8 vo, price ioa 6 d. cloth, new style, 

DOMESTIC MEDICINE AND SURGERY, 

BY J. H. WALSH, F.R.C.S., 

ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY-FOUR PAGE ENGRAVINGS, SIXTEEN PRINTED 
IN COLOURS, BY EVANS. 


General Heads of the Contents: 

Laws which Regulate Health and Disease. 

The Elementary Forms of Disease—Their Causes and Symptoms. 
The Methods Employed in the Removal of Disease. 
Therapeutics. 

The Practical Application of the Principles of the Healing Art. 
The Management of Children in Health and Disease. 

Domestic Practice of Medicine and Surgery in the Adult. 
Glossary and Index. 

Bedford Street, Covent Garden. 


















Frederick JVarne & Co ., Publishers. 


NEW POPULAR SERIES OF BOOKS. 


In fcap. 8w, price ONE SHILLING each , 256 pp. } 

PENNY READINGS, 

IN PROSE AND VERSE, 

TEN DISTINCT VOLUMES, 

For the use of Members of Literary and Scientific Institutions , Recreation 
Societies , Mutual Improvement Associations , Mechanics' Institutes , Young 
Men s Societies , Working Men s Clubs , all kindred Societies , y&r 

the General Reader. 

Compiled and Edited by J. E. CARPENTER, 

Twelve years Public Reader, Lecturer, and Entertainer at the 
Principal Literary institutions in Great Britain. 


A STANDARD WORK OF CHOICE READING. 


In fcap. SvOy cloth boards , price ONE SHILLING each , 25 6/>/>» 
Two Volumes (each sold separately). 

Sunday Readings , //* Prose and Verse , 

Edited and arranged by J. E. CARPENTER. 

Devoted in the main to Sacred Literature, but blended with Moral 
; and Instructive Pieces of a Secular Character, all by Eminent Authors. 


In Five Volumes crown 8 vo, clolh extra, each 550 pp., price 20s. 

POPULAR READINGS, 

In Prose and Verse, by J. E. CARPENTER. 

Elegantly printed, paged throughout. Each volume indexed. With 
1 complete index of the series in Volume 5. With Steel Portrait of 
the Editor in Vol. I. 

Either Volume [complete in itself) sold separately. 

Bedford Street , Covent Garden. 





















Frederick IVarne & CoPublishers. 


New Ready Reference Books, by A. Charles Ewald, F.S.A., 

OF HER MAJESTY’S RECORD OFFICE. 


In crown Zvo, price 3J. 6 d. each , cloth extra , 344//., 

OUR CONSTITUTION, 

^ RECORD 

OF THE ORIGIN AND GRADUAL PROGRESS OF THE LAWS AND 
GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 

With Short Explanations of all Legal Terms. 


REFERENCE BOOK OF ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Containing Tables of Chronology and Genealogy, a Dictionary of Battles, 
Lines of Biography, and a Digest of the English Constitution, from the 
Invasion of Julius Caesar to 1866. The Second Edition. 


UNIFORM IN SIZE, STYLE, AND PRICE, 

THE POCKET DATE BOOK, 

A REFERENCE BOOK OF 

UNIVERSAL HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE 
WORLD TO THE PRESENT DATE. 

By W. L. R. CATES. 

In crown Zvo, price 2 s. 6 d ., cloth , 

THE CIVIL SERVICE GUIDE, 

BY HENRY WHITE, B.A. 

With Directions for Candidates, Examination Papers, Standards of Quali¬ 
fication, Amount of Salaries, and all necessary Information for those 
seeking Government Employment. The Ninth Edition, revised from 
the latest authorities, by Alexander C. Ewald, Esq., Author of “ Our 
Constitution,” “ Reference Book of English History.” 


In fcap. 8*i/o, cloth boards , price ir., 

HOW WE ARE GOVERNED; 

OR, THE CROWN, THE SENATE, AND THE BENCH. 

By ALBANY FONBLANQUE, Junr. 
Revised to date by W. A. Holdsworth. 

Bedford Street , Covent Garden. 





















Frederick JVarne & Co., Publishers. 


DICTIONARIES—STANDARD EDITIONS. 


ENGLISH. 

WALKER’S PEARL DICTIONARY, an entirely new 

Book, composed in a new type, and printed from electrotypes. Edited 
throughout, from the most recent approved authorities, by Dr. P. A. 
Nuttall, LL.D. Large demy i8mo, 288 pp., cloth jilt. if. 

Ditto, ditto, roan, strongly bound, with a steel Portrait, u. id. 

WEBSTER’S SHILLING DICTIONARY. Pearl Edi¬ 
tion. Composed in a ne™ type, and printed from electrotypes. Edited 
by A. C. Ewald, F.S.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, if. 

Ditto, ditto, roan. if. 6 d. 

WARNE’S BIJOU DICTIONARY, an entirely new 

Volume, with every recent improvement. Printed in diamond type, 
from electrotypes. Crown 481110, with Portrait, if. 

Ditto, ditto, roan, gilt edges, if. id. 

JOHNSON’S SHILLING DICTIONARY 

MODERNIZED. Pearl Edition, with 35,000 words. Composed in 
new type, and printed from electrotypes. Edited from the most recent 
approved authorities, by A. C. Ewald, F.S.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, n. 
Ditto, ditto, roan, if. id. 

FRENCH. 

NUGENT’S FRENCH and ENGLISH and ENGLISH 1 

and FRENCH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY, revised by Brown 
and Martin. New Edition, square i6mo. 2f. 6 d . 

Ditto, roan embossed. 31. 

JAMES and MOLE’S FRENCH-ENGLISH and ENG- 

LISH-FRENCH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY, for general use. 
Crown 8vo, 800 pp., strongly bound. 5f. 

GERMAN. 

ELWELL’S GERMAN and ENGLISH and ENGLISH 

and GERMAN DICTIONARY. Cloth. 51. 

WILLIAMS’ GERMAN and ENGLISH and ENGLISH 

and GERMAN DICTIONARY. Royal 241110. 2f. id. 

Ditto, roan embossed. 3r. 


Bedford Street , Covent Garden . 

















Frederick Warne & Co., Publishers. 


THE SPORTSMAN’S VADE-MECUM. 


In one vol., large crown 8 vo, price 15L, cloth , New Style , gilt top , 

A COMPLETELY NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION, 
Entirely Recomposed in a Larger Type, 

OF 

BRITISH RURAL SPORTS: 

' COMPRISING 

Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Fishing, Hawking, Racing, 
Boating, Pedestrianism, 

AND THE 

VARIOUS RURAL GAMES AND AMUSEMENTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

By STONEHENGE, 

Editor of “ The Field,” Author of “ The Greyhound." 

Illustrated by Numerous Engravings on Wood, from Drawings 
by Wells, Harvey, Hind, &c. 


PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. 

British Rural Sports first appeared in 1855 ; since which date six large editions 
have been disposed of, and the work has been admitted to be now a desideratum 
among English sportsmen. Time has, however, rendered it necessary to intro¬ 
duce a good many alterations in, and additions to, the text; and advantage has 
been taken of these circumstances to entirely reset the book in larger type, and 
add many new illustrations. It is hoped that this course will give British Rural 
Sports a new career of usefulness. 


THE LAST WORK OF “ THE OLD BUSHMAN.” 


In large crown 8vo, price 7 s. 6 d., cloth, 500 pp. 

SPORTING SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

By the Author of “Ten Years in Sweden,” “ Bush Wanderings in 
Australia." Large crown 8vo, cloth, 500 pp. 

“ In none of the works of the Old Bushman will be found more originality— 
more, in fact, of those qualities which mark the man of genius—than in his 
‘Sporting Sketches.’”— Field. 

Also by “ The Old Bushman,’’ 

In fcap. 8vo, 3 s. 6 d., cloth extra, new style, 

BUSH WANDERINGS IN AUSTRALIA. With Six¬ 

teen pages of Illustrations. Third Edition. 


Bedford Street, Covent Garden. 

















Frederick JVarne & Co., Publishers. 


In large crown 8 vo, 736 pp., price 7 s. 6 d. 

Elegantly and strongly bound. 

WARNE’S MODEL COOKERY 

AND 

HOUSEKEEPING BOOK: 

CONTAINING 

COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, 

AND RECEIPTS FOR 

PASTRY AND PUDDINGS. 

CREAMS AND JELLIES. 
CUSTARDS, ICES, AND CAKES. 
PRESERVES AND PICKLES. 
SOUFFLES AND OMELETS. 

WINES, DRINKS, AND ALE. 
DESSERTS. 

BUTTER AND CHEESE. 

RELISHES. 

COOKERY FOR THE SICK. 

BILLS OF FARE. 

DUTIES OF SERVANTS. 

Compiled and edited by MARY JEWRY. 

With numerous Woodcuts and original Illustrations. 

Printed iti Colours by KRONHEIM. 

Embodying nearly Two Hundred distinct Subjects. 


The Model Cookery and Housekeeping Book has been prepared 
with a view especially to the requirements of the middle classes. 

Of 3000 receipts which the book contains, nearly half are original. It 
is believed that the Coloured Plates will be found of very great assistance 
in teaching an inexperienced servant how to serve the different dishes, 
and how they ought to look when brought to table. 


In royal 4 8mo , is. each , cloth, gilt edges. 

MY MARKET TABLE. 

Showing the Value of any Article, at per pound and Ounce, from 
Sixpence to Eighteenpence. 

Invaluable to all Housekeepers who appreciate economical expenditure. 


Bedford Street, Covent Garden. 


BREAKFAST DISHES. 

BREAD, BISCUITS, ETC. 

FISH AND SOUPS. 

SAUCES AND GRAVIES. 

BEEF, MUTTON. 

LAMB, VENISON. 

VEAL, PORK. 

POULTRY AND GAME. 

MADE DISHES AND ENTREES. 
MEAT AND FISH PIES, ETC. 
VEGETABLES. 

POTTING AND COLLARING. 











WARNE’S COMPANION LIBRARY. 


Under this general title will be issued, at intervals, a NEW SERIES 
OF CHOICE NOVELS, well printed on good paper, in a clear 
type, with wrapper, or bound, with illustrated cover. 


Price, ONE SHILLING each (unless specified). 


i. THE SUTHER¬ 
LANDS. 


2. RUTLEDGE. 


3. CHRISTINE. 

4. FRANK WAR¬ 

RINGTON. 


BY THE RIGHT HOH. B. DISRAELI, M.P. 


6. YOUNG DUKE. 

7. TANCRED. 

8. VENETIA. 

9. CONTARINI FLEM¬ 

ING. 

10. CONINGSBY. 


11. SYBIL. 

12. ALROY. 

13. IXION. 

14. HENRIETTA TEM¬ 

PLE. 

13. VIVIAN GREY. 


18. MY AUNT PRUE’S RAILWAY JOURNEY. 

By Mrs. Gascoigne. 

19. LORD LYNN’S WIFE. By Author “Lady Flavia.” 

20. SYLVESTER SOUND, the Somnambulist. 2s. 

21. ZOE’S BRAND. By the Author of “Recom¬ 

mended to Mercy.” 2 s. 

22. OLIVE BLAKE’S GOOD WORK. By J. C. 

JEAFFRESON. 2S. 

23. FOOTPRINTS ON THE ROAD. By C.Kent.2*. 

24. TOM CRACKENTHORPE’S HUNTING AD¬ 

VENTURES. 

23. PARIS AND LONDON : Humorous Sketches. 
By Albert Smith. 

26. LOVE MATCH. By Author of “ Valentine Vox.”2s. 

27. The SAUCY ARETHUSA.By Capt.Chamier,R.N. 

28. The NIGHT FOSSICKERS, &c. (Australian Tales.) 

29. WALTER GORING. By Annie Thomas. 2$. 

30. ON GUARD. By Annie Thomas. 2 s. 

31. DOCTOR WELD 5 or. The Web of Life. By 

M. M. Bell. 2 s. 

32. SIR HARRY AND THE WIDOWS. By R. St.. 

J" Corbet 

33. WEARYFOOT COMMON. By Leitch Richie. 


Bedford Street , Covent Garden . 













Frederick JVarne is 3 Co., Publishers. 


WARNED USEFUL BOOKS. 


In fcap. 8 vo, limp cloth or fancy boards, price is. each (unless 
specified), 

3. COMMON SHELLS OF THE SEA-SHORE. By 

the Rev. J. G. Wood. With 300 Woodcuts by Sowerby. 

4. SEA-WEEDS, by Mrs. Lane Clarke. With 10 

pages of original Plates, printed in Tinted Litho. 

6. FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 

By Elizabeth Watts. 

7. VEGETABLES : How to Grow Them. By Ditto. 

8. FONBLANQUE’S HOW WE ARE GOVERNED. 

12. FISH, and How to Cook It. By Elizabeth Watts. 
14. THE COMPANION LETTER WRITER. A 

Complete Guide to Correspondence, with Commercial Forms, &c. 

13. THE MODERN GYMNAST. By Charles 

Spencer. With 120 Practical Illustrations. 

17. EVERY-DAY COOKERY. With Illustrations. 

18. HAY-TIME TO HOPPING. By the Author of 

" Our Farm of Four Acres.” 

19. POULTRY: Their Breeding, Rearing, Feeding, and 

Exhibiting. By Miss E. Watts. 

20. ANGLING: A Practical Guide to Bottom Fishing, 

Spinning, Fly Fishing and Sea Fishing. By G. T. Burgess. 

21. THE ORCHARD AND FRUIT GARDEN: Its 

Culture and Produce. By Miss E. Watts. 

22. A FERN BOOK FOR EVERYBODY. With 

numerous Illustrations and Page Plates. By M. C. Cooke. 

24. HIDDEN SENSE: Seek and Find; or. Double 

Acrostics. By E. L. Babington. With Illustrations. 

23. SUNDAY ACROSTICS. From Names and Words 

in the Bible. By Mrs. Ogilvy. 

26. EXECUTORS’, ADMINISTRATORS’, AND 

TRUSTEES’ GUIDE. By H. B. Ingram. With full 
Directions about Wills. 


Bedford Street , Covent Garden. 













Frederick IVarne & Co., Publishers. 

WAENE’S ILLUSTRATED BIJOU BOOKS. 


In 481x10, price 6d. each, cloth, gilt edges. 

1. VENTRILOQUISM MADE EASY 5 or. How to 

Become a Ventriloquist. By F. Hardy. 

2. FUN AND FLIRTATION FORFEITS. 

3. ETIQUETTE FOR LADIES. 

4. ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN. 

5. THE BALL-ROOM COMPANION. 

6 . ETIQUETTE of the TOILETTE. Ladies and 

Gentlemen. 

7 . THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. By L. V. 

8. LONDON IN MINIATURE. With a New Map. 

9. ARCHERY. By H. J. B. Hancock. 

10. BILLIARDS, The A B C of. By F. Hardy. 

11. SWIMMING. By the Rev. J. G. Wood. 

12. ELEMENTARY GYMNASTICS. By E. L. 

13. CRICKET. By F. Wood. 

14. CROQUET. By the Rev. J. G. Wood. 

15. ETIQUETTE of COURTSHIP & MATRIMONY. 

1 6. CHESS, The A B C of. By F. Hardy. 

17 . THE MODEL LETTER WRITER. 

18. CRIBBAGE AND DOMINOES. By F. Hardy. 

19. DINNER-TABLE ETIQUETTE,with CARVING. 

20. MAGIC, The A B C of. By F. Hardy. 

21. DRAUGHTS and BACKGAMMON. By F. Hardy. 

22. WHIST, the A B C of. By J. R. W. 

W ARNE’S BIJOU BOOKS are handy for the waistcoat pocket, neat in 
style, well illustrated with New Engravings, and all compiled by competent 
authors. 


Warne’s Useful Manuals.—New Books. 

In fcap. 8vo, price 6 d. each, cloth, limp. 

ACKERMANN on the RECOVERY of DEBTS in the SUPERIOR 
and COUNTY COURTS. 

ACKERMANN’S LANDLORD, TENANT, and LODGER'S 
GUIDE, with Appendix of Forms. Leases, Agreements, &c. 

THE BUSINESS LETTER WRITER, with all Forms. 

THE LOVER’S CORRESPONDENT. 

THE JUVENILE CORRESPONDENT. 

Also, uniform, same price, size, style, &c. 

DARE AND ENDURE ; or, True Stories of Heroism and Adventure. 
Edited by the Rev. G. T. Hoake. 



Bedford Street, Covent Garden. 



















































